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Ag 3 PO 4 /TiO 2 heterostructures with enhanced photocatalytic activity
Author(s) -
Li Junqi,
Guo Zhanyun,
Liu Zhenxing,
Cui Mingming,
Zhu Zhenfeng
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.201431537
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , rhodamine b , heterojunction , materials science , degradation (telecommunications) , precipitation , chemical engineering , irradiation , nanoparticle , nanotechnology , photochemistry , optoelectronics , catalysis , chemistry , telecommunications , biochemistry , physics , meteorology , computer science , nuclear physics , engineering
Heterostructured Ag 3 PO 4 /TiO 2 composites have been fabricated via an in situ precipitation method by depositing Ag 3 PO 4 nanoparticles onto the surface of TiO 2 microspheres. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of the Ag 3 PO 4 /TiO 2 heterostructures for the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under UV light irradiation could be attributed to the effective separation of photogenerated electron–hole pairs driven by the photoinduced potential difference generated at the Ag 3 PO 4 /TiO 2 heterojunction interface. Furthermore, when 10 at% (molar percentage) of Ag 3 PO 4 is loaded onto the TiO 2 surface, the Ag 3 PO 4 /TiO 2 composites exhibit the best photocatalytic activity and the rate constant of RhB degradation is over three times that of pure TiO 2 . In addition, the mechanism for the enhancement of the photocatalytic activity of Ag 3 PO 4 /TiO 2 is also investigated by comparison of their PL spectra.