Preparation of Ag@Ag3PO4@ZnO ternary heterostructures for photocatalytic studies

In this article, we report a novel Ag@Ag 3 PO 4 @ZnO ternary heterostructures synthesized through a three-step approach. Firstly, single-crystalline Ag nanorods are fabricated and served as the templates for subsequent Ag 3 PO 4 deposition. Secondly, Ag 3 PO 4 crystals are grown around Ag core nanorods through a solution co-precipitation process, leading to the Ag@Ag 3 PO 4 binary heterostructures. Finally, ZnO nanorod arrays on the surface of the Ag@Ag 3 PO 4 heterostructures are realized via a seeded growth strategy, forming the typical Ag@Ag 3 PO 4 @ZnO ternary heterostructures. The photodegradation of rhodamine B under ultraviolet–visible light irradiation indicates that the Ag@Ag 3 PO 4 @ZnO ternary heterostructures exhibit much higher activities than pure Ag 3 PO 4 and binary heterostructures of Ag@Ag 3 PO 4 . The higher photocatalytic activity of the Ag@Ag 3 PO 4 @ZnO composites may be attributed to the effective photogenerated charge separation at heterointerfaces of Ag/Ag 3 PO 4 and Ag 3 PO 4 /ZnO, and the rapid electron transport along one-dimensional Ag and ZnO nanorods.