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Ag3PO4 nanocrystals deposited on monoclinic olive-like BiVO4 with efficient photodegradation of organic dyes under visible light irradiation

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Abstract

Olive-like BiVO4 microstructures with lengths of 600–1000 nm and widths of 300–600 nm have been synthesized via a facile and additive-free solvothermal method. Studies find that the type of solvent plays an important role in the morphology of the final products. Furthermore, Ag3PO4 nanocrystals are successfully deposited on monoclinic olive-like BiVO4 via in situ precipitation method. The as-synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), photoluminescence (PL) spectra, and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS). The photocatalytic activities of the catalysts are evaluated by degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) and methylene blue (MB) under visible light (≥420 nm) irradiation. The experimental results suggest that catalytic activity of the composite photocatalysts is greatly influenced by the loading level of Ag3PO4. The molar ratio of 0.8:1.0 Ag3PO4-loaded BiVO4 exhibits higher photocatalytic activity in both the decolorization of RhB and MB than that of individual BiVO4 and P25. The observed improvement in photocatalytic activity is associated with the extended absorption in the visible light region resulting from the Ag3PO4 nanoparticles, and the effective separation of photogenerated carriers at the Ag3PO4/BiVO4 interfaces through the formation of heterojunction structure. The study provides a general and effective method in the fabrication of composite with sound heterojunctions that may show a variety of applications.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 21575001, 21071002, and 21275006), Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (11040606Q02), State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science (SKLACLS1204), 211 project of Anhui University, Key Project of Anhui Provincial Education Department (KJ2013A029), and the Ph.D. Research Fund of Anhui University (J01001954).

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  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei, 230601, People’s Republic of China

    Jingshuai Chen, Liang-Liang Jiang, Xing-Pei Liu, Chang-Jie Mao, Ji-Ming Song, Helin Niu & Shengyi Zhang

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  1. Jingshuai Chen
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  2. Liang-Liang Jiang
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  3. Xing-Pei Liu
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  4. Chang-Jie Mao
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  5. Ji-Ming Song
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  6. Helin Niu
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Correspondence to Jingshuai Chen or Chang-Jie Mao.

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I certify that this manuscript is original and has not been published and will not be submitted elsewhere for publication while being considered by Journal of Nanoparticle Research. And the study is not split up into several parts to increase the quantity of submissions and submitted to various journals or to one journal over time. No data have been fabricated or manipulated (including images) to support our conclusions. No data, text, or theories by others are presented as if they were our own. The submission has been received explicitly from all co-authors. And authors whose names appear on the submission have contributed sufficiently to the scientific work and therefore share collective responsibility and accountability for the results.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Chen, J., Jiang, LL., Liu, XP. et al. Ag3PO4 nanocrystals deposited on monoclinic olive-like BiVO4 with efficient photodegradation of organic dyes under visible light irradiation. J Nanopart Res 19, 159 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-017-3861-3

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