Preparation of graphene oxide–Ag3PO4 composite photocatalyst with high visible light photocatalytic activity

Graphene oxide/Ag3PO4 (GO–Ag3PO4) composite photocatalysts were prepared by a simple precipitant method. The obtained samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity was investigated by the degradation of MB. An increase in photocatalytic activity was observed for GO–Ag3PO4 composite materials compared with pure Ag3PO4 under visible light. This improvement was attributed to the following two reasons: increased migration efficiency of photo-induced electrons and increased adsorption activity for dye molecules. A study of the effect of the amount of GO on the photocatalytic activity showed that there was an optimum amount of 10%.