Preparation of thiourea derivative incorporated Ag3PO4 core shell for enhancement of photocatalytic degradation performance of organic dye under visible radiation light

Abstract

Photocatalysis is a promising technique to reduce hazardous organic pollutants using semiconductors under visible light. However, previous studies have been concerned with the behavior of silver phosphate (Ag₃PO₄) as n-type semiconductors, and the problem of their instability is still under investigation. Herein, 4,4'-(((oxalylbis(azanediyl)) bis(carbonothioyl)) bis(azanediyl)) dibenzoic acid is synthesized by green method and used to enhance the photocatalytic behavior for Ag₃PO₄. The incorporated Ag₃PO₄ core-shell is prepared and characterized via XRD, FT-IR, Raman, TEM and BET. Besides, the thermal stability of the prepared core shell was investigated via TGA and DSC measurements. The optical properties and the energy band gap are determined using photoluminescence and DRS measurements. The photodegradation of methylene blue in the presence of the synthesized Ag₃PO₄ core-shell under visible light is examined using UV/Vis measurements. The effect of initial dye concentration and contact time are studied. In addition, the kinetic behavior of the selected dye during the photodegradation process shows a pseudo-first order reaction with rate constant of 0.015 min^-1 for ZAg. The reusability of the Ag₃PO₄ core shell is evaluated, and the efficiency changed from 96.76 to 94.02% after three cycles, indicating efficient photocatalytic behavior with excellent stability.