Journal of Hazardous Materials, Vol.315, 23-34, 2016
Significant visible-light photocatalytic enhancement in Rhodamine B degradation of silver orthophosphate via the hybridization of N-doped graphene and poly(3-hexylthiophene)
Organic pollutants as typical water contaminants are potentially harmful to human health. In this study, we suggested that the novel Ag3PO4/N-doped graphene (NG)/Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) composites can remove the organic dye Rhodamine B (RhB) from water. This Ag3PO4-based photocatalyst was synthesized via a facile method and subsequently characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, Raman spectroscopy, PL spectroscopy, and UV-vis DRS. The photocatalytic activity of Ag3PO4/NG/P3HT composites is significantly higher than that of pristine Ag3PO4, Ag3PO4/NG, and Ag3PO4/P3HT for RhB degradation under visible light irradiation, especially the kinetic constant of Ag3PO4/NG/P3HT is more than 6 times of pristine Ag3PO4. The reactive oxygen species trapping experiments indicate that the degradation of RhB over the Ag3PO4/NG/P3HT composites mainly results from the holes oxidation and superoxide radical reduction. Besides, Ag3PO4/NG/P3HT composites exhibit better recyclability and stability than pristine Ag3PO4. Furthermore, the photocatalytic mechanism of Ag3PO4/NG/P3HT composites for RhB degradation under visible light was proposed as the synergistic effect of irradiated Ag3PO4, P3HT and NG sheets on the effective separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, and the enhancement of visible light absorbance. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords:Photocatalytic degradation;Silver orthophosphate;N-doped graphene;Poly(3-hexylthiophene);Composite materials