H2O2 rejuvenation-mediated synthesis of stable mixed-morphology Ag3PO4 photocatalysts.

Abstract

Ag3PO4 photocatalyst has attracted interest of the scientific community in recent times due to its reported high efficiency for water oxidation and dye degradation. However, Ag3PO4 photo-corrodes if electron accepter such as AgNO3 is not used as scavenger. Synthesis of efficient Ag3PO4 followed by a simple protocol for regeneration of the photocatalyst is therefore a prerequisite for practical application. Herein, we present a facile method for the synthesis of a highly efficient Ag3PO4, whose photocatalytic efficiency was demonstrated using 3 different organic dyes: Methylene Blue (MB), Methyl orange (MO) and Rhodamine B (RhB) organic dyes for degradation tests. Approximately, 19 % of Ag3PO4 is converted to Ag0 after 4.30 hours of continuous UV-Vis irradiation in presence of MB organic dye. We have shown that the Ag/Ag3PO4 composite can be rejuvenated by a simple chemical oxidation step after several cycles of photocatalysis tests. At an optimal pH of 6.5, a mixture of cubic, rhombic dodecahedron, nanosphere and nanocrystals morphologies of the photocatalyst was formed. H2O2 served as the chemical oxidant to re-insert the surface metallic Ag into the Ag3PO4 photocatalyst but also as the agent that can control morphology of the regenerated as-prepared photocatalyst without the need for any other morphology controlling Agent (MCA). Surprisingly, the as- regenerated Ag3PO4 was found to have higher photocatalytic reactivity than the freshly made material and superior at least 17 times in comparison with the conventional Degussa TiO2, and some of TiO2 composites tested in this work.