Photo-corrosion inhibition of Ag₃PO₄ by polyaniline coating

In this paper, polyaniline-coated silver phosphate has been successfully prepared via a facile chemisorption method in order to improve the stability of Ag₃PO₄ under light irradiation. The crystalline phase, band gap energy, and microstructure of the obtained PANI/Ag₃PO₄ composites were characterized by X-ray diffraction, UV–vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy, respectively. The photocatalytic degradation of methlylene blue was performed to test the activities of PANI/Ag₃PO₄ composites with different coating amounts and the results indicate that the stabilities of PANI/Ag₃PO₄ composites were successfully enhanced. The correlation between photocatalytic performance and the properties of PANI/Ag₃PO₄ composites is discussed in detail.