Nanoemulsification synthesis route for obtaining highly efficient Ag3PO4 photocatalytic nanomaterial

Abstract

Nanoemulsion technique based on Ouzo effect was applied for the fast and simple synthesis of Ag3PO4 at room temperature. X-ray powder diffraction analysis and Raman spectroscopy reviled that synthesized powder was single-phase. Using scanning electron microscopy analysis, it was found that the synthesized Ag3PO4 particles were near-spherical shape with an average diameter of 100 nm. The high value for the specific surface area of obtained powder was measured by Brunauer–Emmet–Teller method. Finally, the Ag3PO4 product was used as a photocatalyst for the photodegradation of crystal violet dye in an aqueous solution. Nanoemulsion strategy procedure provides a simple pathway to obtain a highly efficient single-phase Ag3PO4 photocatalyst.