Synthesis of highly active visible-light-driven colloidal silver orthophosphate

The present study deals with the synthesis of highly uniform and spherical visible-light-driven colloidal silver phosphate (Ag3PO4) with the size of ∼200 nm. These colloidal particles showed excellent photocatalytic activity for the removal of different dyes and pesticide under sunlight-type excitation. The photocatalytic activity of these particles, obtained by colloidal method, was found to be much higher than silver phosphate obtained by precipitation method, or titanium dioxide, or zinc oxide under identical conditions. The effect of catalyst amount and recyclability on the photocatalytic response of Ag3PO4 was also investigated.