Highly photocatalytic activity of novel nano-sized Ag3PO4 for Rhodamine B degradation under visible light irradiation

Abstract Ag 3 PO 4 nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized by precipitation of AgNO 3 and H 3 PO 4 in the presence of oleylamine. The products were characterized by XRD, UV–vis and FE-SEM. It showed that the particle sizes of products ranged from 5 to 10 nm depending on the synthesis conditions. UV–vis result revealed a strong light absorbance in the visible light region at 470–475 nm. Photocatalytic activities of TiO 2 and Ag 3 PO 4 nanoparticles were tested in photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light irradiation. In comparison to nano-TiO 2 , nano-sized Ag 3 PO 4 samples exhibited much higher photocatalytic activity in the RhB degradation. After 3 h of reaction, the conversion reached the value of 96%.