In this work, a facile ultrasonic method for the fabrication of AgCl quantum dots (AgCl QDs) with an average diameter of about 2.5[Formula: see text]nm was reported for the first time. The material was analyzed by various techniques. In addition, effects of material’s size on its photocatalytic activities were studied. Results suggested that the AgCl QDs exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity to degrade Rhodamine B (RhB) and tetracycline (TC) under visible light illumination, and the degradation rate of RhB (TC) had reached up to 96.6% (72.2%) in 20 min, which was higher than that of AgCl nanoparticles (23[Formula: see text]nm) and AgCl nanospheres (114[Formula: see text]nm), respectively. Besides, the band gap of the material was increased when the size of material decreased from 23[Formula: see text]nm to 2.5[Formula: see text]nm. The significantly improved photocatalytic performance and increased band gap of AgCl QDs were mainly related to the quantum size effects of AgCl, which results in the more electron fluctuation in quantized energy levels and the lower recombination of electrons and holes.

中文翻译：

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一步声化学合成具有增强光催化活性及其尺寸效应的 AgCl 量子点

在这项工作中，首次报道了一种简便的超声方法制备平均直径约为 2.5[公式：见正文]nm 的 AgCl 量子点 (AgCl QDs)。通过各种技术分析材料。此外，还研究了材料尺寸对其光催化活性的影响。结果表明，AgCl量子点在可见光照射下表现出优异的光催化降解罗丹明B（RhB）和四环素（TC）的活性，20 min内对RhB（TC）的降解率高达96.6%（72.2%），分别高于 AgCl 纳米颗粒（23[公式：见正文]nm）和 AgCl 纳米球（114[公式：见正文]nm）。此外，当材料尺寸从23[公式：见正文]nm减小到2.5[公式：见正文]nm时，材料的带隙增大。