Graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets decorated with TiO2 mesocrystals for visible-light photodegradation of rhodamine B

• Published in: Journal of materials science. Materials in electronics 2021-04, Vol.32 (7), p.8687-8702
• Main Authors: Zhong, Wan-Ling, Li, Chao, Liu, Xiao-Ming, Bai, Xiu-Kui, Huang, Yong-Chun, Zhang, Gang-Sheng, Lei, Cai-Xia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon nitride; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Composite materials; Current carriers; Electromagnetic absorption; Liquid phase deposition; Liquid phases; Materials Science; Nanosheets; Optical and Electronic Materials; Oxidation; Photodegradation; Photoluminescence; Pollutants; Rhodamine; Synergistic effect; Titanium dioxide
• ISSN: 0957-4522; 1573-482X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10854-021-05540-2

TiO 2 mesocrystals (M-TiO 2 ) can promote the adsorption of organic pollutants and provide effective conduction pathways for the photogenerated charge carriers. However, the pristine M-TiO 2 had no visible-light absorption due to its wide band gap. In this paper, the hollow-box-structured mesoscopic TiO 2 /g-C 3 N 4 (M-T-CN) composites with visible-light response were prepared by liquid phase deposition (LPD) and topological transformation. The results showed that the sample of M-T-CN-300 can degrade 99.1% Rhodamine B (RhB) solution within 15 min under illumination. The reaction rate constant of M-T-CN-300 was nearly 3 times and 34 times that of pristine g-C 3 N 4 and M-TiO 2 , respectively. Photoluminescence (PL) analysis confirmed that the coupling of M-TiO 2 and g-C 3 N 4 can reduce the recombination of photogenerated charge carriers. The enhanced photocatalytic performance in M-T-CN composite material was mainly attributed to the synergistic effect of M-TiO 2 and g-C 3 N 4 , which can effectively promote the separation of charge carriers and achieve the visible-light absorption.