Mixed ammonium silver phosphomolybdate salt nanostructures; solid state synthesis, characterization of driving agent role and photocatalytic property

A green mechanochemical technique has been developed for the synthesis of mixed ammonium silver phosphomolybdate salt, (NH4)(1.6)Ag1.4PMo12O40 center dot 4H(2)O with sheet-like nanostructure. The reaction was prompted using acetamide/NH4NO3 at room temperature. The change of driving agent to urea at the same conditions led to an epitaxial growth of hierarchical microstructure of this polyoxoanion. The morphological and structural features of the prepared specimens were discussed in detail. The photocatalytic performance of the resulting nanosheets for removing 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) in water under visible light irradiation was also studied. It was found that the substitution of positively charged units by Ag+ ions and production of reduced ion improves the photocatalytic activity of prepared product compared with entire one. The obtained results allow introducing this product as a usable choice with a high degree of removal efficiency in catalytic and photocatalytic treatments. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.