The Starting Material Concentration Dependence of Ag3PO4 Synthesis for Rhodamine B Photodegradation under Visible Light Irradiation

Synthesis of Ag 3 PO 4 photocatalyst under the varied concentrations of AgNO 3 and Na 2 HPO 4 ·12H 2 O as starting material has been successfully synthesized using the co-precipitation method. The concentration of AgNO 3 is 0.1 ; 0.5 ; 1.0 ; and 2.0 M, whereas Na 2 HPO 4 ·12H 2 O is 0.03 ; 0.17 ; 0.33 ; and 0.67 M, respectively. The co-precipitations were carried out under aqueous solution. As-synthesized photocatalysts were examined to degrade Rhodamine B (RhB) under blue light irradiation. The results showed that varying concentrations of starting materials affect the photocatalytic activities, the intensity ratio of [110]/[200] facet plane, and their bandgap energies of Ag 3 PO 4 photocatalyst. The highest photocatalytic activity of the sample was obtained by synthesized using the 1.0 M of AgNO 3 and 0.33 M of Na 2 HPO 4 ·12H 2 O (AP-1.0). This is due to the high [110] facet plane and increased absorption along the visible region of AP-1.0 photocatalyst. Therefore, this result could be a consideration for the improvement of Ag 3 PO 4 photocatalyst.