title: Significant visible-light photocatalytic enhancement in Rhodamine B degradation of silver orthophosphate via the hybridization of N-doped graphene and poly(3-hexylthiophene).
abstract: Organic pollutants as typical water contaminants are potentially harmful to human health. In this study, we suggested that the novel Ag3PO4/N-doped graphene (NG)/Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) composites can remove the organic dye Rhodamine B (RhB) from water. This Ag3PO4-based photocatalyst was synthesized via a facile method and subsequently characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, Raman spectroscopy, PL spectroscopy, and UV-vis DRS. The photocatalytic activity of Ag3PO4/NG/P3HT composites is significantly higher than that of pristine Ag3PO4, Ag3PO4/NG, and Ag3PO4/P3HT for RhB degradation under visible light irradiation, especially the kinetic constant of Ag3PO4/NG/P3HT is more than 6 times of pristine Ag3PO4. The reactive oxygen species trapping experiments indicate that the degradation of RhB over the Ag3PO4/NG/P3HT composites mainly results from the holes oxidation and superoxide radical reduction. Besides, Ag3PO4/NG/P3HT composites exhibit better recyclability and stability than pristine Ag3PO4. Furthermore, the photocatalytic mechanism of Ag3PO4/NG/P3HT composites for RhB degradation under visible light was proposed as the synergistic effect of irradiated Ag3PO4, P3HT and NG sheets on the effective separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, and the enhancement of visible light absorbance.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Theoretical Chemistry of Environment, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China. Electronic address: zhangyl@scnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yanlin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Theoretical Chemistry of Environment, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
authors.forename: Churu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Theoretical Chemistry of Environment, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China. Electronic address: Gu@scnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Feng Long
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Theoretical Chemistry of Environment, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
authors.forename: Honghai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Theoretical Chemistry of Environment, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Guo
keywords: Composite materials; N-doped graphene; Photocatalytic degradation; Poly(3-hexylthiophene); Silver orthophosphate