Solar-driven photocatalytic water oxidation of Ag3PO4/CNTs@MoSe2 ternary composite photocatalyst

Abstract Photocatalytic water splitting is a promising and effective way to simultaneously tackle energy requirement and environmental pollution. The fabrication of a novel and efficient non-metallic co-catalyst is increasingly essential for the improvement of photocatalytic oxygen production. Herein, a novel ternary composite based photocatalyst with high oxygen evolution activity was synthesized and fully characterized. The composite introduced here consists of CNTs and MoSe2 as a new cocatalyst in order to accelerate the activity of Ag3PO4 photocatalysis. The optimal oxygen generation rate of 102.3 μmol L−1 g−1 h−1 for the ternary Ag3PO4/CNTs@MoSe2 photocatalyst was achieved under the visible-light irradiation, which is higher than pure Ag3PO4 (2.88 times), Ag3PO4/CNTs (1.91 times) and Ag3PO4/MoSe2 (1.31 times) samples. The superior oxygen evolution is mainly attributed to CNTs@MoSe2 as binary co-catalysts which can bing about the effective separation and transportation of the photoexcited charge carriers and good electrical conductivity. The present work will set the foundations of designing high-performance Ag3PO4-based photocatalysts for energy and environmental applications.