Ag3PO4 quantum dot sensitized BiPO4: A novel p-n junction Ag3PO4/BiPO4 with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity

Ag3PO4 quantum dot sensitized BiPO4, a novel p-n junction Ag3PO4/BiPO4 photocatalyst, was prepared by co-precipitation hydrothermal method and characterized by XRD, XPS, SEM, TEM, HRTEM, EDS and DRS. Ag3PO4/BiPO4 exhibited much higher photocatalytic activity than Ag3PO4 and BiPO4 for the degradation of methyl orange under visible light (lambda > 420 nm). The enhanced photocatalytic activity of Ag3PO4/BiPO4 could be mainly ascribed to the strong visible-light absorption originating from the quantum dot sensitization of Ag3PO4 and high efficient separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs through Ag3PO4/BiPO4 heterojunction. Moreover, center dot O-2(-) and center dot OH were the main reactive species. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.