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℃andτ_(a) of 90 min.The enhanced PC activity by annealing at 400℃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 80μA/cm^(2) and acceptable stability.The n-type conduction behavior of Ag_(3)PO_(4) is verified by a Mott-Schottky(M-S)plot.