Fabrication of Ag3PO4/TiO2 Composite and Its Photodegradation of Formaldehyde Under Solar Radiation

Abstract In order to improve the photocatalytic degradation performance of Ag 3 PO 4 and reduce the cost of photocatalyst made of Ag 3 PO 4 , a kind of Ag 3 PO 4 /TiO 2 composite was successfully fabricated via a simply precipitation method for the Ag 3 PO 4 nanoparticles being loaded on the surface of commercial titanium dioxide (P25) to form a heterostructure. The Ag 3 PO 4 /TiO 2 composite were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, XPS, FE-SEM, HR-TEM, DRS and PL and applied for the degradation of formaldehyde solution under solar radiation. The results showed that the degradation rat of Ag 3 PO 4 /TiO 2 composite (0.01796 min −1 ) was much higher than that of pure Ag 3 PO 4 (0.00775 min −1 ), indicating that the Ag 3 PO 4 /TiO 2 composite possessed better photocatalytic degradation activity for the formaldehyde solution than pure Ag 3 PO 4 . The composite significantly decreased the dosage of silver for photocatalyst under solar radiation, thereby reduced the cost of the photocatalyst made from silver. Graphical Abstract