Preparation of Ag₃PO₄@PANI Сore-Shell Composites and Study of Their Photocatalytic Performance

Abstract

In this report, polyaniline (PANI) was synthesized via a chemical oxidation method, which was used to prepare a core–shell Ag₃PO₄@PANI composite photocatalyst by chemisorption. The photocatalyst showed visible light activity in the degradation of phenol and tetracycline, which was 1.32 and 1.35 times higher compared to that of reference Ag₃PO₄, respectively. Even after five repeated reactions, Ag₃PO₄@PANI still maintained a high degradation rate of 87%. The trapping experiments confirmed that $\bullet {\kern 1pt} {{{\text{h}}}^{ + }}$ and $\bullet {\kern 1pt} {\text{O}}_{2}^{ - }$ were the main active species in the photocatalytic degradation. Based on the experimental results and theoretical considerations, the role of Ag₃PO₄ and Ag₃PO₄@PANI was the promotion of photogenerated electron–hole separation, providing enhanced stability and photocatalytic activity at their interface.