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Abstract
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This research combines plasmonic Ag@Au nanoparticles with C3N5 nanosheets to enhance the visible-lightdriven
photocatalytic activity of C3N5. The nanocomposite was extensively characterized using various techniques,
including X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM),
energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis (BET), high-resolution
transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and photoluminescence
spectroscopy (PL) analysis. The presence of Ag@Au nanoparticles on the surface of C3N5 nanosheets is evident in
the FE-SEM images. The UV-Vis absorption spectrum of Ag@Au core-shell nanoparticles exhibits two prominent
plasmon bands in the 400–600 nm region, attributed to the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of the
individual metallic components. The synthesized Ag@Au-C3N5 nanocomposite demonstrated a significantly
higher SBET of 60.6 m²/g compared to the C3N5 nanosheets (34.9 m²/g). The prepared Ag@Au-C3N5 was able to
degrade 96.5 % of 10 mg/L of methylene blue (MB) and 81.7 % 10 mg/L of Tetracycline (TC) in a visible-lightdriven
photocatalytic process after 60 min. The degradation experiments performed in the presence of various
radical scavengers confirmed that the direct degradation of the MB molecules by the photogenerated holes was
responsible for the photocatalytic performance of the Ag@Au-C3N5 nanocomposite.
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