Facile Synthesis of Graphene–Enwrapped Ag3PO4 Composites with Highly Efficient Visible Light Photocatalytic Performance

Abstract

In this work, thermally exfoliated graphene nanosheets (GNS) were employed to prepare novel Ag3PO4–GNS composite photocatalysts by a facile chemical precipitation approach. The as-prepared Ag3PO4–GNS composite photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric (TG) analysis, ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. It was found that the Ag3PO4 particles were well deposited on the surfaces of GNS. Compared with bare Ag3PO4 and Ag3PO4–rGO composite, the Ag3PO4–GNS composite exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity for the photodegradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light irradiation. The photocatalytic degradation rate of Ag3PO4–GNS composite was 1.7 times that of bare Ag3PO4 and about 1.3 times that of Ag3PO4–rGO for the degradation of RhB. Furthermore, the photocatalytic stability of Ag3PO4–GNS composite was also greatly enhanced. This enhanced photocatalytic activity and stability could be ascribed to the positive synergetic effects between the Ag3PO4 particles and GNS sheets, which could provide a greater number of active adsorption sites, suppress charge recombination and reduce the serious photocorrosion of Ag3PO4. Moreover, the photocatalytic degradation of RhB over Ag3PO4–GNS composites was also optimized, suggesting that the optimal amount of GNS in the composites was 11.4[Formula: see text]wt.%. This work shows a great potential of Ag3PO4–GNS composite for environmental treatment of organic pollutants.