Abstract
The composite Ag3PO4/CeO2 photocatlyst, a novel p-n type heterojunction, has been successfully fabricated through a facile hydrothermal process combined with a successive in situ precipitation technique. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) were used to characterize the as-obtained products. The SEM and TEM image show that CeO2 particles have been successfully loaded and well distributed in the surface of Ag3PO4. The photocatalytic activities of the p-Ag3PO4/n-CeO2 heterojunctions were investigated for their efficiency on the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) under ultra-violet light and visible light irradiation, and the results showed that the p-Ag3PO4/n-CeO2 heterojunctions possessed remarkable photocatalytic activities. The enhanced photocatalytic activity can be attributed to the extended absorption in the visible light region resulting from the Ag3PO4 and the effective separation of photogenerated carriers driven by the internal electrostatic field in the junction region.
Highlights
As a result of an imminent energy crisis and growing pollution issues, many researchers are aiming at the utilization of renewable energy sources such as wind or solar light[1]
The results demonstrate that the degradation efficiency of the Ag3PO4/CeO2 composite to Rhodamine B (RhB) in much higher than those of pure Ag3PO4 and CeO2 under visible light irradiation
The results demonstrate that the degradation efficiency of the Ag3PO4/CeO2 composite to RhB in much higher than those of pure Ag3PO4 and CeO2 under UV light irradiation
Summary
As a result of an imminent energy crisis and growing pollution issues, many researchers are aiming at the utilization of renewable energy sources such as wind or solar light[1]. A key issue is how to enhance the stability of Ag3PO4 photocatalyst by improving the separation efficiency of the photogenerated electrons and holes. It has been reported that coupling two or more semiconductors with appropriate band positions is an efficient strategy to effectively enhance the photocatalytic activities of the semiconductor photocatalysts, because it can improve the separation efficiency of photogenerated electron-hole. On account of that the combination of CeO2 and Ag3PO4 possess well matched overlapping band structure[14], p-n hetero-junctions could be fabricated by coupling CeO2 with Ag3PO4, which will bring more effective interface transfer of photo-generated electrons and holes to restrain the recombination. The stability of the Ag3PO4/CeO2 photocatalyst was investigated and a photocatalytic mechanism under visible-light irradiation was proposed
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