ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Structural transformation of Ag₃PO₄ and Ag₃PO₄/TiO₂ induced by visible light and Cl⁻ ions: its impact on their photocatalytic, antimicrobial, and antifungal performance

Katarína Baďurová, Martin Motola, Adriana Janczura, Tomáš Roch, Leonid Satrapinskyy, Ján Greguš, Ewa Dworniczek, and Gustav Plesch

Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia

E-mail: martin.motola@upce.cz

Received: 11 November 2019  Accepted: 24 February 2020

Abstract:

Abstract

In this work, synthesis of Ag₃PO₄ and its composite with TiO₂ (Ag₃PO₄/TiO₂) toward study of two phenomena naturally occurring in Ag₃PO₄ is reported, specifically a visible light-driven (i.e., photocorrosion) and chloride ion-driven transformation of Ag₃PO₄ to AgCl in chloride-free and chloride-present aqueous solution. A deeper insight on this transformation via study of their structural and morphological changes using X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) is performed. Substantial amount of AgCl is detected in both Ag₃PO₄-based materials after visible light irradiation in chloride-present environment. This led to an increase in optical band gap of Ag₃PO₄ and Ag₃PO₄/TiO₂ from 2.52 to 2.99 eV and 2.48 to 3.02 eV, respectively. Impact of these structural changes in Ag₃PO₄ and Ag₃PO₄/TiO₂ on their photocatalytic activity is evaluated from the photoinduced catalytic, antibacterial, and antifungal performance under visible light irradiation. The photocatalytic activity of pristine and photocorroded Ag₃PO₄ is increased by ~ 10 times compared to that of pristine and photocorroded Ag₃PO₄/TiO₂. Photocorroded Ag₃PO₄ and Ag₃PO₄/TiO₂ possess minor antibacterial and antifungal activities (cell survival ~ 90%), whereas using pristine Ag₃PO₄ and Ag₃PO₄/TiO₂ the cell survival is reduced by 100% after 60 and 120 min, respectively.

Graphic abstract

Keywords: Photocatalysis; Antimicrobial; Antifungal; Photocorrosion; Ag3PO4; TiO2; AgCl

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-020-01118-0

Chemical Papers 74 (9) 2785–2797 (2020)