Controlled Synthesis and Photocatalytic Activity Evaluation of Nanostructured Ag3PO4

Silver phosphate (Ag3PO4) materials with different nanostructures including rod, cambiform and tetrahedron with round edges and corners were synthesized by adjusting the molar ratio (W) of water to surfactant in a reverse microemulsion, which consists of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), isopentyl alcohol, cyclohexane, and aqueous solution, using silver nitrate and potassium dihydrogen phosphate as starting materials. The structure, morphology and visible-light-response of the obtained samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, HRTEM, and UV-Vis-DR Sspectra. The formation mechanisms of nanostructured Ag3PO4 were discussed. Moreover, the photocatalytic activity was also evaluated by means of degradation of organic dye methylene blue (MB) in water. The results show that all the samples have body-centred cubic crystal structure, and the W value has an obvious effect on morphologly of nanostructured Ag3PO4. The varied morphologies can be attributed to the change of diameter and interfacial film strength of water nuclear influenced by SDS content. In addition, all the obtained samples exhibit excellent efficient photocatalytic activity for the photo-degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation, and the tetrahedral Ag3PO4 with exposed many {111) facets exhibits the best photocatalytic activity.