Influence of annealing temperature on visible-light photocatalytic activities of Ag 3 PO 4 particulates synthesized using CH 3 COOAg as a precursor

Ag 3 PO 4 microparticles (MPs) were prepared through a facile chemical precipitation route and using silver acetate (AgAc) as metal salt. The effect of annealing temperature ( T a ) and time ( τ a ) on the actual photocatalytic (PC) activity of Ag 3 PO 4 MPs is investigated. The optimal annealing parameters are T a of 400 °C and τ a of 90 min. The enhanced PC activity by annealing at 400 °C is ascribed to the increase of electron mobility. Besides, an Ag 3 PO 4 photoelectrode was fabricated through a drop-coating deposition route, which demonstrates a photocurrent density of 80 μA/cm 2 and acceptable stability. The n-type conduction behavior of Ag 3 PO 4 is verified by a Mott-Schottky (M-S) plot.