g-C3N4/AgBr nanocomposite decorated with carbon dots as a highly efficient visible-light-driven photocatalyst

Xuli Miao; Zhenyuan Ji; Jiajia Wu; Xiaoping Shen; Jiheng Wang; Lirong Kong; Miaomiao Liu; Chunsen Song

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2017.04.087

g-C₃N₄/AgBr nanocomposite decorated with carbon dots as a highly efficient visible-light-driven photocatalyst

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2017 Sep 15:502:24-32. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2017.04.087. Epub 2017 Apr 28.

Authors

Xuli Miao¹, Zhenyuan Ji¹, Jiajia Wu¹, Xiaoping Shen², Jiheng Wang³, Lirong Kong¹, Miaomiao Liu¹, Chunsen Song¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, People's Republic of China.
² School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: xiaopingshen@163.com.
³ School of Material Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212003, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 28477466
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2017.04.087

Abstract

Visible-light-driven photocatalysis as a green technology has attracted intense interest due to its potential applications in environmental remediation. However, the poor visible light utilization and low electron-hole separation efficiency of photocatalysts largely limited their practical application. In this work, a new ternary visible-light driven photocatalyst of g-C₃N₄/CDs/AgBr has been prepared by the introduction of carbon dots (CDs) onto the surface of g-C₃N₄, followed by in-situ growth of AgBr nanoparticles on CDs-modified g-C₃N₄ nanosheets. The g-C₃N₄/CDs/AgBr nanocomposite exhibits excellent photocatalytic efficiency for organic pollutant degradation, which is about 4.0, 5.3 and 2.3 times higher than that of AgBr, g-C₃N₄ and g-C₃N₄/AgBr, respectively. The result indicates the introduction of CDs into g-C₃N₄/AgBr can largely improve the photocatalytic activity since CDs act as the light absorber and the electron mediator between g-C₃N₄ and AgBr, which effectively promote the separation of photogenerated charge carriers and the utilization of visible light. Moreover, the photocatalytic activity of g-C₃N₄/CDs/AgBr has no obvious decrease after four photodegradation cycles, demonstrating a high photocatalytic stability. This study highlights the potential application of highly efficient CDs decorated photocatalysts in waste water purification.

Keywords: AgBr; Carbon dots; Nanocomposite; Photocatalysis; g-C(3)N(4).