Fabrication of Ag3PO4−PANI−GO composites with high visible light photocatalytic performance and stability

• Ag3PO4−PANI−GO photocatalyst was prepared through a simple co-precipitation method.
• The photodegradation activity is better than that of Ag3PO4 and Ag3PO4–GO.
• The introduction of PANI promoted the effective separation of electron–hole pairs.

In this paper, a simple co-precipitation method was used to prepare Ag3PO4−PANI−GO photocatalyst. The polyaniline (PANI) nanofibers and Ag3PO4 nanoparticles were supported by graphene oxide sheets. The composite material exhibits better photocatalytic properties and stability for both cationic dye rhodamine B and anionic dye methyl orange under visible light irradiation than Ag3PO4−GO photocatalyst does. The significant enhancement in photoactivity can be attributed to the differences of valence band position between Ag3PO4 and PANI that causes a high separation efficiency of photogenerated electron–hole pairs. Ideas on the design and fabrication of highly efficient and visible-light-driven novel photocatalysts are expected to be inspired by this work to solve energy and environmental problems.

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