Fabrication of Ag3PO4/GO/NiFe2O4 composites with highly efficient and stable visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B

Tianhong Zhou; Guozhen Zhang; Hao Yang; Hongwei Zhang; Ruini Suo; Yingshuang Xie; Gang Liu

doi:10.1039/c8ra02962h

Fabrication of Ag₃PO₄/GO/NiFe₂O₄ composites with highly efficient and stable visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B

RSC Adv. 2018 Aug 6;8(49):28179-28188. doi: 10.1039/c8ra02962h. eCollection 2018 Aug 2.

Authors

Tianhong Zhou^{1

2}, Guozhen Zhang¹, Hao Yang¹, Hongwei Zhang¹, Ruini Suo², Yingshuang Xie³, Gang Liu²

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University Lanzhou 730000 P. R. China zhangguozhen@mail.lzjtu.cn.
² Research & Development Center for Eco-material and Eco-chemistry, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences Lanzhou 730000 P. R. China.
³ Gansu Import and Export Inspection and Quarantine Bureau Inspection and Quarantine Integrated Technology Center Lanzhou 730000 P. R. China.

Abstract

Effective visible-light-driven Ag₃PO₄/GO/NiFe₂O₄ Z-scheme magnetic composites were successfully fabricated by a simple ion-exchange deposition method. The Ag₃PO₄/GO/NiFe₂O₄ (8%) composite exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity (degradation efficiency was ∼96% within 15 min and kinetic constant reached 0.1956 min^-1) and stability when compared to Ag₃PO₄, NiFe₂O₄, and Ag₃PO₄/NiFe₂O₄ for rhodamine B (RhB) degradation. Furthermore, by electrochemical and fluorescence measurements, the Ag₃PO₄/GO/NiFe₂O₄ (8%) material also showed larger transient photocurrent, lower impedance, and longer fluorescence lifetime (7.82 ns). Comparing the activity result dependence with characterization results, it was indicated that photocatalytic activity depended on fast charge transfer from Ag₃PO₄ to NiFe₂O₄ through GO sheet. The h⁺ and ·O₂ ^- species played important roles in RhB degradation under visible-light. A possible Z-scheme mechanism is proposed over the Ag₃PO₄/GO/NiFe₂O₄ (8%) composite. This study might provide a promising visible light responsive photocatalyst for the photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes in wastewater.