Graphene oxide–palladium modified Ag–AgBr: a visible-light-responsive photocatalyst for the Suzuki coupling reaction

Abstract

The efficient utilization of the abundant and economical solar energy has received tremendous attention due to increased environmental and energy concerns. In this report, a plasmonic Ag–AgBr photocatalyst functionalized with graphene oxide–Pd was successfully fabricated and used as an efficient visible-light-responsive photocatalyst for the Suzuki coupling reaction. The integration of plasmonic Ag–AgBr with Pd nanoparticles supported on graphene oxide enabled efficient visible light harvesting for the catalytic reaction on the heterojunction structure. A possible catalytic mechanism for the highly efficient photocatalyst is proposed. This work provides a convenient means for the design of efficient catalysts that are composed of a photocatalyst and a catalytically active transition metal for various organic transformations driven by visible light.