Fabrication of Z-scheme Ag(3)PO(4)/TiO(2) Heterostructures for Enhancing Visible Photocatalytic Activity

In this paper, a synthetical study of the composite Ag(3)PO(4)/TiO(2) photocatalyst, synthesized by simple two-step method, is carried out. Supplementary characterization tools such as X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy were adopted in this research. The outcomes showed that highly crystalline and good morphology can be observed. In the experiment of photocatalytic performance, TiO(2)400/Ag(3)PO(4) shows the best photocatalytic activity, and the photocatalytic degradation rate reached almost 100% after illuminating for 25 min. The reaction rate constant of TiO(2)400/Ag(3)PO(4) is the largest, which is 0.02286 min(−1), twice that of Ag(3)PO(4) and 6.6 times that of the minimum value of TiO(2)400. The degradation effect of TiO(2)400/Ag(3)PO(4) shows good stability after recycling the photocatalyst four times. Trapping experiments for the active catalytic species reveals that the main factors are holes (h(+)) and superoxide anions (O·− 2), while hydroxyl radical (·OH) plays partially degradation. On this basis, a Z-scheme reaction mechanism of Ag(3)PO(4)/TiO(2) heterogeneous structure is put forward, and its degradation mechanism is expounded.