Influence of Zr doping on Ag₃PO₄ for photocatalytic degradation of dyes and Cr(VI) reduction under visible light irradiation

Abstract

In this study, pristine silver phosphate (Ag3PO4), 1, 3, and 5 at% Zr-doped Ag3PO4 have been synthesized using the precipitation method. In order to characterize the synthesized materials, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV–Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) was used. The tetrapod particles displayed by the pristine Ag3PO4 change into irregular particles upon the incorporation of Zr as shown in SEM images. The XRD patterns showed that pristine Ag3PO4 and all the Zr-doped Ag3PO4 exhibited body-centered cubic structure and were successfully prepared with no impurities. Similar FTIR spectra of all the synthesized materials showed the presence of the P–O and Zr–O groups. DRS studies showed that increasing Zr doping was found to reduce the band gap energy of Ag3PO4, except for 1 at% Zr doping. The photocatalytic ability of the synthesized materials was investigated through photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) as well as photoreduction of Cr(VI) under visible light illumination. Among the synthesized materials, 1 at% Zr-doped Ag3PO4 showed outstanding photocatalytic performance for both dye degradation and Cr(VI) reduction.