Photocatalytic degradation of Basic Blue 41 dye under visible light over SrTiO <sub>3</sub> /Ag <sub>3</sub> PO <sub>4</sub> hetero‐nanostructures
Soheila Kafian, Abbas Sadeghzadeh‐Attar
Abstract
Abstract In an attempt to develop nanostructured photocatalysts with high performance, SrTiO 3 /Ag 3 PO 4 hetero‐nanostructures were successfully fabricated. The formed binary heterojunctions were composed of SrTiO 3 nanotubes prepared using liquid‐phase deposition, and Ag 3 PO 4 nanoparticles prepared using a sol–gel method. Synthesis details, including morphology, structure, and optical properties of the prepared photocatalysts, were characterized and comparatively discussed. The results showed that at an optimal ratio of SrTiO 3 to Ag 3 PO 4 (20–80), the photocatalytic degradation of Basic Blue 41 under 80‐min visible light irradiation is the maximum amount of 99%, which is about 4.4 and 1.5 times higher than that of pristine SrTiO 3 nanorods and Ag 3 PO 4 nanoparticles, respectively. It can be due to the synergistic effect of two materials that provide high light absorption and charge carriers’ separation. Finally, a detailed possible mechanism for enhancing the photocatalytic activity of the SrTiO 3 /Ag 3 PO 4 hetero‐nanostructures was proposed.