Preparation of graphene oxide load Ag₃PO₄@polyaniline composite and its photocatalytic performance

To solve severe photocorrosion of Ag₃PO₄, which was used to prepare a core-shell Ag₃PO₄@polyaniline (PANI) composite photocatalyst by chemisorption, and graphene oxide (GO) was used as the carrier of Ag₃PO₄@PANI composite photocatalyst, reaching the superior carrier separation efficiency via synergetic effect of GO and PANI. The photocatalyst with mass ratio of GO to Ag₃PO₄@PANI of 4% shows visible light activity for the degradation of phenol, ciprofloxacin (CIP), tetracycline (TC) and dyes of 98.1%, 90.3%, 98.6% and 100% in 24 min, 18 min, 15 min and 5 min, respectively. Even after six repeat reactions, Ag₃PO₄@PANI/GO still maintain a high degradation rate. The trapping experiments confirm that •h⁺ and •O₂ are the main active species in the photocatalytic degradation. The experimental results show that a core-shell structure is formed between PANI and Ag₃PO₄, the introduction of GO increases the electron transport rate, and the synergistic effect of PANI and GO on Ag₃PO₄ promotes the separation of photogenerated electrons and holes, thereby improving the stability of Ag₃PO₄ and photocatalytic activity.