Combination of alkali treatment and Ag3PO4 loading effectively improves the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 nanoflowers

Abstract

In this paper, three-dimensional TiO₂ nanoflowers (NFs) were prepared by a facile hydrothermal method, and Ag₃PO₄ was grown in situ following alkali treatment to design and synthesize a Ag₃PO₄/OH/TiO₂ catalyst with excellent photocatalytic activity under visible light. The test results show that the photocatalytic degradation performance of TiO₂ NFs after alkali treatment and Ag₃PO₄ loading is significantly improved. This is because the alkali treatment and the introduction of Ag₃PO₄ can provide a large amount of –OH, which can be converted to ˙OH under UV irradiation, followed by an increase in the number of active radicals to enhance the photocatalytic degradation performance. Meanwhile, the introduction of Ag₃PO₄ can effectively improve the light absorption ability of the photocatalyst. Moreover, the in situ growth of Ag₃PO₄ on TiO₂ NFs can construct a high-quality Ag₃PO₄/TiO₂ heterojunction to promote the charge separation and transport. Therefore, the degradation rate of Ag₃PO₄/OH/TiO₂ can reach 90% after 30 min for degrading 3 mg L⁻¹ RhB under visible light. The Ag₃PO₄/OH/TiO₂ photocatalyst designed in the present work provides a new tool for the degradation of organic dyes.