In situ fabrication of graphene-based Ag3PO4@AgBr composite with enhanced photocatalytic activity under simulated sunlight. Issue 2 (April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Shinger, Mahgoub Ibrahim; Idris, Ahmed Mahmoud; Devaramani, Samrat; Qin, Dong-Dong; Baballa, Hind; Zhang, Shou-Ting; Shan, Duo-Liang; Lu, Xiaoquan
• Is Part Of: Journal of environmental chemical engineering. Volume 5:Issue 2(2017:Jun.)
• Page Start: 1526
• Page End: 1535
• Publication Date: 2017-04
• Subjects: In-situ synthesis -- Graphene -- Ag3PO4@AgBr -- Sunlight -- Organic dyes; Chemical engineering -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Environmental engineering -- Periodicals; Chemical engineering -- Environmental aspects; Environmental engineering; Periodicals; 660.0286
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jece.2017.02.032
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2213-2929

Abstract

Highlights: In situ fabrication of graphene-based Ag3 PO4 @AgBrcomposite. Simulated sunlight induced the photocatalytic activity of GO-Ag3 PO4 @AgBr composite. GO-Ag3 PO4 @AgBr composite exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity toward different organic dyes. The effect of the experimental condition on the catalytic activity of GO-Ag3 PO4 @AgBr composite. Abstract: In this study, graphene grafted Ag3 PO4 @AgBr (GO-Ag3 PO4 @AgBr) composite with enhanced photocatalytic performance was synthesized via in situ fabrication method. The synthesized composite was characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The GO-Ag3 PO4 @AgBr composite was exhibited higher activity than Ag3 PO4 @AgBr and bare Ag3 PO4 . The material characterization and the detailed study of the various parameters which affect the photocatalytic reaction, revealed that the enhanced catalytic activity is related to the surface electric property of the synthesized catalyst. The investigation of the energy band structure further considered as a reason for the enhancement of the multi-electron reaction. Furthermore, the effect of illuminated light on the catalytic performance was also investigated. The results indicated that simulated sunlight significantly affects the catalytic activity compared with visible light. In addition, the photocatalytic experimental conditions were tested, and sonication of the dye/catalyst reaction system for 10 min was selected to be the optimum condition to establish absorption – desorption equilibrium. This work could supply a new way to use natural sunlight to facilitate the practical application of photocatalysts in environment issues.