Spherical and Sheetlike Ag/AgCl Nanostructures: Interesting Photocatalysts with Unusual Facet-Dependent yet Substrate-Sensitive Reactivity

We herein report that spherical and sheetlike Ag/AgCl nanostructures could be controllably synthesized by means of chemical reactions between AgNO₃ and cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) surfactant. In this synthesis system, AgNO₃ works as the silver source, while CTAC serves not only as the chlorine source but also as the directing reagent for a controllable nanofabrication. We show that compared to the spherical Ag/AgCl nanostructures, the sheetlike counterparts, wherein the AgCl nanospecies are predominantly enriched with {111} facets, could exhibit superior catalytic performances toward the photodegradation of methyl orange. Interestingly, we further demonstrate that when 4-chlorophenol or phenol is used as the substrate, the sheetlike Ag/AgCl nanostructures exhibit inferior catalytic reactivity, whereas the spherical counterparts display superior catalytic performances comparatively. Our results disclose new insights on the facet-dependent catalytic performances with regard to a facet-selective but substrate-sensitive photoinduced electron–hole separation.