| Summary: | In this study, the ability of Ag<sub>3</sub>PO<sub>4</sub> to achieve the photocatalytic degradation of quinoline yellow (QY) a hazardous and recalcitrant dye, under UVA and visible light was investigated. The photocatalyst Ag<sub>3</sub>PO<sub>4</sub> was synthesized through a precipitation method, and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), BET Brunauer–Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis, UV-Differential Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Ag<sub>3</sub>PO<sub>4</sub> could successfully induce the photocatalytic degradation of QY under UVA and visible light. Optimal parameters were 0.5 g·L<sup>−1</sup> of the catalyst, 20 ppm of QY and pH~7. Ag<sub>3</sub>PO<sub>4</sub> was 1.6-times more efficient than TiO<sub>2</sub> Degussa P25 under UV<sub>A</sub> light in degrading QY. Total organic carbon (TOC) analyses confirmed the almost complete QY mineralization. At least eight intermediate degradation products were identified by liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry. The stability of Ag<sub>3</sub>PO<sub>4</sub> was satisfactory as less than 5% Ag metal appeared in XRD analyses after 3 reuse cycles. These results show that under optimized conditions Ag<sub>3</sub>PO<sub>4</sub> can efficiently achieve quinolone yellow mineralization.
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