Facile fabrication of ordered assembled TiO2/g-C3N4 nanosheets with enhanced photocatalytic activity

• Published in: Ceramics international 2021-06, Vol.47 (11), p.15594-15603
• Main Authors: Song, Minggao, Li, Mingchun, Guo, Yintong, Huang, Xiyao, Wang, Sijin, Ren, Long, Li, Laishi, Wu, Yusheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Composite; Hierarchical structure; Photocatalytic activity; TiO2/g-C3N4
• ISSN: 0272-8842; 1873-3956
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2021.02.129

A series of assembled porous TiO2/g-C3N4 (TC) powders composed of spherical nanoparticles were synthesized by controlling the molar ratio of urea to tetrabutyl titanate (TBOT) in a facile hydrothermal process. A nanosheets-constructed hierarchical structure was obtained at the molar ratio of urea to TBOT of 10:1, which possessed uniform mesopores with bimodal distribution (0.5–1.5 nm and 2–20 nm) and interconnected macropores between TC nanosheets. The specific surface area achieved 98.4 m2 g−1. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns and high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) analysis proved that the nanosheets are made of overlapping TC nanocomposite. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra results illustrated that a well-defined hierarchical porous structure is particularly desired for the low recombination rate of carriers. Further, the TC-decorated carbon fiber (CF) cloth was obtained based on the nanosheets assembled hierarchical structure, which showed more outstanding photocatalytic behavior with high degradation capability for Rhodamine B (RhB) (99.9%) and tetracycline hydrochloride (89.8%) at 60 min by 500 W Xe lamp irradiation. After five consecutive cycles, the degradation efficiencies of TC/CF cloth for both RhB and tetracycline hydrochloride all remained above 90% of the initial value.