Highly efficient heterojunction photocatalyst based on nanoporous g-C3N4 sheets modified by Ag3PO4 nanoparticles: synthesis and enhanced photocatalytic activity

Deli Jiang; Jianjun Zhu; Min Chen; Jimin Xie

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2013.11.042

Highly efficient heterojunction photocatalyst based on nanoporous g-C3N4 sheets modified by Ag3PO4 nanoparticles: synthesis and enhanced photocatalytic activity

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2014 Mar 1:417:115-20. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2013.11.042. Epub 2013 Nov 23.

Authors

Deli Jiang¹, Jianjun Zhu¹, Min Chen¹, Jimin Xie²

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, PR China.
² School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, PR China. Electronic address: dlj@ujs.edu.cn.

PMID: 24407666
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2013.11.042

Abstract

Novel visible-light-driven heterojunction photocatalyst composed by Ag3PO4 nanoparticles and nanoporous graphitic carbon nitride sheets (Ag3PO4/p-g-C3N4) was synthesized by a facile and green method. The results showed that photocatalytic activity of Ag3PO4/p-g-C3N4 was much higher than that of pure p-g-C3N4 in the photodegradation of Rhodamine B under visible light irradiation. The kinetic constant of Rhodamine B degradation over Ag3PO4 (33.3 mol%)/p-g-C3N4 was about 5 and 2 times higher than that over pure p-g-C3N4 and Ag3PO4, respectively. The enhanced photocatalytic performance is attributed to the stronger visible light absorption and the heterojunction between Ag3PO4 nanoparticles and p-g-C3N4, which could induce the low recombination rate of photoinduced electron-hole pairs.

Keywords: Ag(3)PO(4) nanoparticles; Degradation; Nanoporous g-C(3)N(4); Photocatalysis; Rhodamine B.