Chemically modified graphene oxide-wrapped quasi-micro Ag decorated silver trimolybdate nanowires for photocatalytic applications

We report a simple and versatile strategy for hybridizing 1-D silver trimolybdate wires (Ag₂Mo₃O₁₀ Ws) and graphene oxide (GO) by a direct solution process. Because of the photoactive nature of Ag₂Mo₃O₁₀ Ws, Ag particles were uniformly formed on their surfaces with the assistance of solar light. Enriched surface functional groups of GO from chemical activation induce a chemical coordination with these Ag particles. As a result, a uniform ternary hybrid mixture was successfully formed with metallic Ag nanoparticles as a bridge connecting activated GO and Ag₂Mo₃O₁₀ Ws. We found that both excited GO and Ag₂Mo₃O₁₀ could generate electron/hole pairs separated in space by metallic Ag as a solid-state electron mediator. The novel photocatalytic mechanism was confirmed using photocurrents, the electronic-band structure, and photoactivity correlation analysis.