Fabrication and photocatalytic performance of one-dimensional Ag3PO4 sensitized SrTiO3 nanowire

The 1D Ag3PO4 sensitized SrTiO3 nanowires are prepared by simple route of electrospinning-in situ deposition technique. The results of the thermogravimetry (TG), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive Spectrometer (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV-Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-Vis) indicate that the Ag3PO4 nanoparticles has been deposited on the surface of the SrTiO3 nanowires successfully. Experimental results showed that compared with pure SrTiO3, the as-prepared 1D Ag3PO4 sensitized SrTiO3 nanowires exhibit obvious enhancement of photocatalytic performance and stability. Especially, the Ag3PO4/SrTiO3 (3AS sample) had a satisfactory photocatalytic activity for degrading methylene blue (MB) more than 98% under visible light irradiation. As to pure SrTiO3 and Ag3PO4, only 9.8% and 49% of MB was decomposed after 35 min irradiation respectively. Furthermore, the mechanism of the enhancing photocatalytic activity could be ascribed to the nano-heterojunction of the Ag3PO4/SrTiO3, the visible light response of the Ag3PO4, and the 1D structure of the nanowires.