High Energy Ball‐Milling Synthesis of Nanostructured Ag‐Doped and BiVO 4 ‐Based Photocatalysts

Nanostructured composites based on plasmonic Ag metal nanoclusters with monoclinc‐BiVO 4 nanoparticles were prepared by high energy ball milling technique. The agglomerated morphology with a spherical shape of 50–100 nm sized BiVO 4 particles associated with homogeneous distribution of 5–10 nm Ag clusters significantly enhanced the photocatalytic activity for the degradation of acid blue dyes. The Ag doping concentration with BiVO 4 was optimized at 3 at. % leading to almost 10 folds faster photocatalytic degradation rate as compared to pristine form. Thus, Ag doped BiVO 4 nanocomposites show efficient visible light driven photocatalytic activity due to charge distribution at the semiconducting‐metal interfaces from band bending and the involvement of a radiation field enhanced by plasmon resonance effects at the surfaces of Ag‐clusters.