Facile Synthesis and Enhanced Visible-Light Photocatalytic Activity of Novel p-Ag(3)PO(4)/n-BiFeO(3) Heterojunction Composites for Dye Degradation

In this work, Ag(3)PO(4) microparticles were decorated onto the surface of BiFeO(3) microcuboids through a precipitation method to obtain p-Ag(3)PO(4)/n-BiFeO(3) heterojunction composites. The composites were employed for the degradation of acid orange 7 (AO7) under visible-light irradiation. It is found that the composites exhibit much higher photocatalytic efficiency than bare BiFeO(3). Meanwhile, the intrinsical visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity of Ag(3)PO(4)/BiFeO(3) composites was further confirmed by the degradation of phenol. In addition, the photo-Fenton-like catalysis property of the composite was also evaluated. The photocurrent analysis indicates that the combination of BiFeO(3) with Ag(3)PO(4) leads to the inhibition of recombination of photoinduced electrons and holes. The obvious enhancement in the photocatalytic activity of the composite is mainly ascribed to the efficient photogenerated charge separation and interfacial charge migration caused by the formation of Ag(3)PO(4)/BiFeO(3) p-n heterojunctions.