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The Ag3PO4 photocatalyst has been developed to degrade the organic pollutant due to its highly active responsive under visible light irradiation. The properties of Ag3PO4 may depend on design and preparation. Starting materials and co-precipitation conditions would significantly affect the properties of the product. The controlled defect of this photocatalyst may lead to improve catalytic activity. Here, the unique properties of phosphate deficiency in Ag3PO4 were created using the starting material of KH2PO4 and AgNO3 under a mixed solvent of water and ethanol. AgNO3 solution with the ethanol percentages of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 90% was added to KH2PO4 aqueous solution. The photocatalysts were characterized using XRD, DRS, SEM, and XPS. The changes in morphology can be observed from the tetrahedral to the sphere which has smaller particles. The increased atomic ratio of Ag/P and Ag/O suggests that the silver ion enrichment in Ag3PO4 has been created. The activity of Ag3PO4 for Rhodamine B elimination increased by 4.3 times higher compared to that of the pristine Ag3PO4. The enhanced photocatalytic activity might be caused by the smaller particle size and higher silver ion content on the surface of Ag3PO4.

The improvement of Ag3PO4 photocatalytic activity was successful by incorporating tetrachloroaurate(III) (AuCl4−) and metallic Au on the surface of Ag3PO4. The photocatalysts were synthesized using the coprecipitation and chemisorption method. Coprecipitation of Ag3PO4 was carried out under ethanol-water solution using the starting material of AgNO3 and Na2HPO4.12H2O. AuCl4− ion and metallic Au were incorporated on the surface of Ag3PO4 using a chemisorption method under auric acid solution. The photocatalysts were characterized using XRD, DRS, SEM, and XPS. The AuCl4− ion and metallic Au were simultaneously incorporated on the Ag3PO4 surface. The high photocatalytic activity might be caused by increasing the separation of hole and electron due to capturing photogenerated electrons by metallic Au and Au(III) as electron acceptors. Copyright © 2021 by Authors, Published by BCREC Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).

The highly active Ag3PO4 photocatalysts were successfully synthesized using the hydrophylic polymer of PVA (polyvinyl alcohol), PEG (polyethylene glycol) and PVP (polyvinyl pyrrolidone). The products were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Diffuse reflection spectroscopy (DRS), Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) specific surface area, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Photocatalytic activities were evaluated using decomposition of Rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light irradiation. The results showed that the PVA, PEG, and PVP increased the specific surface area and enhanced the photocatalytic activity of Ag3PO4. The highest photocatalytic activity could be observed in Ag3PO4 synthesized with PVA, mainly due to an increase in electron excitation induced by PVA chemically adsorbed on the surface.