Morphology-controlled synthesis of Ag3PO4 nano/microcrystals and their antibacterial properties

We reported the controllable fabrication of Ag3PO4 nano/microcrystals through a simple solution-based precipitation reaction. The samples were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and infrared spectroscopy. The results indicated that the Ag3PO4 crystals with three different morphology, including the rhombic dodecahedron of 500 nm, the sphere of 100 nm and the particles with small-size of 20 nm, could be obtained in the solvents of water, ethylene glycol (EG) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The antibacterial assay showed that all samples possess obvious antibacterial properties. In addition, the Ag3PO4 with small size of 20 nm showed better activity due to their high specific surface areas. Notably, we have found that the antibacterial ability of Ag3PO4 could be greatly improved under the visible light irradiation, which are superior to that in the dark and commercial streptomycin.