Fabrication of novel ternary heterojunctions of Pd/g-C3N4/Bi2MoO6 hollow microspheres for enhanced visible-light photocatalytic performance toward organic pollutant degradation
Graphical abstract
The figure shows a possible photocatalytic mechanism of the g-C3N4 and Pd comodified Bi2MoO6 hollow microspheres. Considering that both of the EVB and ECB of g-C3N4 are more negative than those of Bi2MoO6, the heterojunction structures form between Bi2MoO6 and g-C3N4. Moreover, the Pd nanoparticles distribute on the g-C3N4 layer after introducing them. When irradiating under visible-light, the Pd nanoparticles along with g-C3N4 and Bi2MoO6 are excited to generate the electrons and holes because of the SPR effect. The photogenerated electrons obtained from Pd will gradually transfer to CB of g-C3N4 and then to CB of Bi2MoO6 because of the most positive CB potential of Bi2MoO6. Simultaneously, the electrons produced on the CB of g-C3N4 will shift to the higher CB potential of Bi2MoO6 and the retained holes on the VB of Bi2MoO6 will easily transfer to the lower potential of g-C3N4, which effectively facilitate the separation of electron-hole pairs. The photogenerated electrons in the process of transition possess enough ability to react with adsorbed surface or dissolved O2 to generate O2− in view of the fact that the CB of g-C3N4 and Bi2MoO6 are more negative than E0 (O2/O2− = −0.046 eV). The accumulated holes on the VB of Bi2MoO6 can react with OH− to produce OH(E0 (OH−/OH = 2.4 eV)). Moreover, owing to the lower VB potentials, the enriched holes on the VB of g-C3N4 cannot react with H2O or OH− to form OH, which can directly degrade RhB by oxidation.
Introduction
As well-known efficient visible light driven (VLD) photocatalysts, bismuth system semiconductors present prominent application prospects in environmental purification and remediation, especially for the organic pollutant degradation [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]. Notably, bismuth molybdate (Bi2MoO6) emerges from various VLD photocatalysts owing to its inexpensiveness, non-toxicity, high stability and VLD properties [6], [7]. Nevertheless, the limited light harvesting ability and high combination rate of photo-induced charge carriers restrict the activity of Bi2MoO6 [8], [9]. Many efforts have been taken in an attempt to solve these problems, such as morphology optimization [10], [11], metal element doping [12], [13], [14] and heterojunction construction [15], [16].
Among various approaches, heterojunction construction with graphite like carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has been proved to be an effective means to modify Bi2MoO6 [17], [18], [19], [20]. Considering the unique g-C3N4 with two-dimensional structure, both the energy levels of valence band (EVB) and conduction band (ECB) are more negative than those of Bi2MoO6, which is suitable for the heterojunction construction between them [21]. The photogenerated electrons or holes from one photocatalyst could transfer to another coupled photocatalyst, inhibiting the charge carrier combination efficiently. The accelerated separation of electron-hole pairs in the heterostructures through the internal electric field become the dominant driving force for the improvement of photocatalytic performance.
Besides of heterojunction construction, photoreduction of noble metal nanoparticles is another outstanding method to elevate photocatalytic properties of Bi2MoO6, such as Ag [22], Pt [23] and Pd [24]. It is reported that the deposition of metallic Palladium on the surface of Bi2MoO6 not only accelerate the separation of photo-induced e−/h+ pairs, but enhance the optical harvesting ability because of surface plasmon resonance effect (SPR), leading to a significantly enhancement of photocatalytic performance toward organic pollutant degradation [25], [26], [27].
In present work, to improve the light harvest ability and accelerate the separation rate of photogenerated charge carriers of Bi2MoO6, novel ternary heterojunctions of Pd/g-C3N4/Bi2MoO6 (Pd/CN/BMO) hollow microspheres were fabricated through g-C3N4 coupling via solvothermal precipitation-calcination and metallic Pd deposition by photoreduction method. The novel ternary heterojunctions of Pd/g-C3N4/Bi2MoO6 photocatalysts displayed brilliant photocatalytic performance in the process of Rhodamine B (RhB) degradation under visible light irradiation. There has been few previous researches using both two approaches to modify Bi2MoO6. The chemical compositions, morphology structures, optical properties, photocatalytic activities and photostabilities were fully characterized and discussed. Additionally, a possible mechanism of Pd/g-C3N4/Bi2MoO6 sample for the enhanced photocatalytic performance was also proposed on the base of the reactive species quenching experiments.
Section snippets
Preparation of g-C3N4
To obtain g-C3N4 nanosheets, 30 g of melamine was added into a covered crucible and then was transferred into a muffle furnace. Heated to 550 °C for 2 h at the rate of 10 °C/min. The obtain yellow g-C3N4 were then grounded into powder and named as CN.
Synthesis of Bi2MoO6
The pure Bi2MoO6 was synthesized by a solvothermal method. 3.3732 g of Bi(NO3)3·5H2O was dissolved in 30 mL of ethylene glycol (EG) under magnetic stirring to prepare solution A and 0.842 g of Na2MoO4·2H2O was dissolved in the same volume of EG to
XRD analysis
To identify the crystal phases of CN, BMO, xCN/BMO and mPd/10CN/BMO samples, XRD patterns of them are illustrated in Fig. 1. Two distinct peaks of g-C3N4 at 13.1° and 27.4° could be well consistent with the standard g-C3N4 (JCPDS 87-1526) [28]. All diffraction peaks of Bi2MoO6 are readily indexed to the orthorhombic bismuth molybdate phase (JCPDS 72-1524) [29]. Four strong peaks located at 28.38°, 32.68°, 47.02° and 55.58° match well with the (1 3 1), (0 0 2), (2 0 2), and (1 3 3) planes
Conclusions
In summary, the novel ternary heterojunctions of Pd/g-C3N4/Bi2MoO6 hollow microspheres were successfully obtained via g-C3N4 coupling and metallic Pd photoreduction deposition on Bi2MoO6 surface. The introduced g-C3N4 formed heterojunctions with Bi2MoO6, which greatly facilitated the separation of electron-hole pairs. The deposited Pd nanostructures distributing on the g-C3N4 layer lead to an enhanced optical absorption ability due to the SPR effect. Because of the synergetic of g-C3N4 coupling
Acknowledgements
This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China for Youth (21207093), Liaoning Excellent Talents in University (LJQ2014023) and the Natural Science Foundation of Shenyang Science and Technology Bureau (No. 18-013-0-02).
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