Rational construction of Ag3PO4/WO3 step-scheme heterojunction for enhanced solar-driven photocatalytic performance of O2 evolution and pollutant degradation

Heterojunction engineering has been regarded as a promising strategy to sufficiently utilizing photogenerated charge carriers, thus benefiting the improvement of photocatalytic performance. Herein, Ag3PO4/WO3 S-scheme heterojunction was synthesized via a simple deposition-precipitation process, and its photocatalytic activity was evaluated by monitoring water splitting and pollutant degradation under visible light. As a result, Ag3PO4/WO3 with optimized ratio photocatalyst showed enhanced photocatalytic activity in oxygen production (306.6 μmol·L-1·h−1) relative to pure Ag3PO4 (204.4 μmol·L-1·h−1). Additionally, it also exhibits rapid toxicity elimination efficiency over hexavalent chromium ions (Cr6+) and ciprofloxacin (CIP) with degrading rate of 72% and 83% within 30 min, respectively. According to a series characterization, a possible S-scheme photocatalytic mechanism of Ag3PO4/WO3 was demonstrated in detail, which endowed the heterojunction with strong redox abilities to provide powerful diving force towards the photocatalytic reaction. This work presents an innovative perspective to construct Ag3PO4-based S-scheme heterojunctions for boosting photocatalytic performance for various applications. © 2021 Elsevier Inc.