Preparation of AgBr/DyVO4 composite and its excellent photocatalytic activity in RhB degradation under visible light

A AgBr/DyVO 4 composite photocatalyst was synthesized by a hydrothermal method for the first time. The physical and chemical structure and optical properties of the composite catalysts were investigated by XRD, XPS, SEM, TEM and UV–Vis. It was found that the prepared photocatalyst is a ternary composite of DyVO 4 , AgBr and Ag. A photodegradation experiment and a cyclic test verified that the composite catalyst has high activity and stability, indicating that the photocatalyst has a wide application potential. The optimal AgBr/DyVO 4 sample can degrade 85% of RhB (20 ppm) under visible light irradiation for 12 min. The degradation rate reaches 0.290 min −1 , which is 14.5 times higher than that of AgBr. The high activity can be ascribed to the coupling effect between AgBr, DyVO 4 and Ag, which leads to high separation efficiency of electrons and holes.