Ag/BiPO4 heterostructures: synthesis, characterization and their enhanced photocatalytic properties

Ag/BiPO4 heterostructures were synthesized by a hydrothermal method combined with an impregnation technique. The heterostructures exhibit much higher activity than pure BiPO4 for degradation of methylene blue, which may be primarily ascribed to highly efficient photogenerated electron-hole pair separation. They also show good recyclability and slightly strong absorption in the visible region. In addition, the possible mechanism for the enhanced photocatalytic properties of Ag/BiPO4 heterostructures is discussed. Moreover, radical scavengers experiments confirmed that holes are the main active species instead of hydroxyl radicals when coupled with the BiPO4 surface by the noble nanocrystalline metal Ag.