Abstract
To extend the absorption capability of TiO2 into visible light region and inhibit the recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes, we put forward an effective strategy of the coupling of TiO2 with a suitable semiconductor that possesses a narrow band gap. Meanwhile, Ag3PO4-TiO2 heterostructural nanotube arrays were prepared by the two-step anodic oxidation to obtain the TiO2 nanotube arrays and then by a deposition-precipitation method to load Ag3PO4. The samples were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS). The experimental results showed that Ag3PO4 nanoparticles were uniformly dispersed on the highly ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays, which increased the visible-light absorption of TiO2 photocatalyst. The photocurrent density and photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange indicated that the performance of Ag3PO4-TiO2 heterostructural nanotube arrays was better than that of the TiO2 nanotube arrays, which could be attributed to the effective electron-hole separation and the improved utilization of visible light.
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Funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (2012FFB05105)
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Mo, Y., Chen, F., Yang, Y. et al. Fabrication and photocatalytic activity of Ag3PO4-TiO2 heterostructural nanotube arrays. J. Wuhan Univ. Technol.-Mat. Sci. Edit. 31, 236–241 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11595-016-1358-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11595-016-1358-z