Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic property of AgBr/BiPO4 heterojunction photocatalyst

Abstract

A novel heterojunction AgBr/BiPO₄ photocatalyst was synthesized with the hydrothermal method. The photocatalyst was characterized by X-Ray powder Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry (EDS), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-ray Photoelectron Spectrscopy (XPS) and Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS). The XRD, SEM-EDS, TEM and XPS analyses indicated that the heterojunction structure formed during the process of hydrothermal treatment. The photocatalytic activity of the photocatalysts was evaluated by degradation of methylene blue dye (MB). The results indicated that the AgBr/BiPO₄ heterojunction exhibited a much higher photocatalytic activity than the pure BiPO₄. The mechanism of the enhancing AgBr/BiPO₄ heterojunction's photocatalytic activity was discussed. It was also found that the photocatalytic degradation of MB over AgBr/BiPO₄ heterojunction photocatalysts followed the pseudo-first-order reaction model.