Preparation of Ag3PO4@PANI Core-Shell Composites and Study of Their Photocatalytic Performance

In this report, polyaniline (PANI) was synthesized via a chemical oxidation method, which was used to prepare a core-shell Ag3PO4@PANI composite photocatalyst by chemisorption. The photocatalyst showed visible light activity in the degradation of phenol and tetracycline, which was 1.32 and 1.35 times higher compared to that of reference Ag3PO4, respectively. Even after five repeated reactions, Ag3PO4@PANI still maintained a high degradation rate of 87%. The trapping experiments confirmed that center dot h(+) and center dot O-2(-) were the main active species in the photocatalytic degradation. Based on the experimental results and theoretical considerations, the role of Ag3PO4 and Ag3PO4@PANI was the promotion of photogenerated electron-hole separation, providing enhanced stability and photocatalytic activity at their interface.