Preparation, Characterization and Photocatalytic Properties of BiPO₄ Decorated with Ag/AgBr

Abstract

The present study investigates rod-like BiPO₄ prepared by a hydrothermal process using bismuth nitrate and sodium dihydrogen phosphate as raw materials. Herein, Ag–AgBr was deposited onto the surface of BiPO₄ via a facile precipitation–photoreduction technique. The structure, morphology, composition and optical property of as-synthesized samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, DRS and PL techniques. The results showed that introduction of Ag–AgBr did not change the structure and morphology of BiPO₄, but extended its optical absorption to visible region. Moreover, the introduction of Ag–AgBr shifted binding energy of elements of BiPO₄ to lower values, which implied that a strong interaction exists between Ag–AgBr and BiPO₄. The photocatalytic tests showed that the Ag/AgBr/BiPO₄ composites possess higher photocatalytic activity for degradation of anthraquinone dye (reactive brilliant blue KN-R) under simulated sunlight, as compared to that of pure BiPO₄. The improvement of photocatalytic activity for Ag/AgBr/BiPO₄ composites could be ascribed to their good optical absorption and the synergistic action between Ag–AgBr and BiPO₄ substrate (the synergistic action effectively retarded recombination of photogenerated carriers in hetero-structured Ag/AgBr/BiPO₄).