Solar and visible light photocatalytic enhancement of halloysite nanotubes/g-C3N4 heteroarchitectures

K. C. Christoforidis; M. Melchionna; T. Montini; D. Papoulis; E. Stathatos; S. Zafeiratos; E. Kordouli; P. Fornasiero

doi:10.1039/C6RA15581B

Solar and visible light photocatalytic enhancement of halloysite nanotubes/g-C₃N₄ heteroarchitectures†

K. C. Christoforidis,*^a M. Melchionna,^a T. Montini,^a D. Papoulis,^b E. Stathatos,^c S. Zafeiratos,^d E. Kordouli^e and P. Fornasiero

*^a

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* Corresponding authors

^a Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, ICCOM-CNR Trieste Research Unit and INSTM Research Unit, University of Trieste, via L. Giorgieri 1, 34127 Trieste, Italy
E-mail: pfornasiero@units.it, kchristoforidis@units.it
Tel: +39 0405583973

^b Department of Geology, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece

^c Department of Electrical Engineering, Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Western Greece, 26334 Patras, Greece

^d Institut de Chimie et Procédés Pour l'Energie, l'Environnement et la Santé, (ICPEES) ECPM, University of Strasbourg, 25 rue Becquerel Cedex 2, 67087 Strasbourg, France

^e Department of Chemistry, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece

Abstract

Novel heteroarchitectures made of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) and halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) were prepared by a facile and soft self-assembly strategy. The morphological, structural and electronic properties of the HNTs/g-C₃N₄ nanocomposites were determined by means of a plethora of techniques including N₂ physisorption, XRD, FT-IR, TEM, UV-Vis absorption, XPS, ζ potential and photoluminescence (PL). Their photocatalytic activity was evaluated under both simulated solar light and pure visible light irradiation against the photodegradation of neutral, positively and negatively charged pollutants, namely phenol, methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO), respectively. The prepared HNTs/g-C₃N₄ nanocomposites were proven to be durable and significantly more efficient than the pure g-C₃N₄ reference for the degradation of positively charged and neutral organics. The nanocomposites presented increased charge carrier formation and reduced recombination rates due to the tight contact between the two components. The enhanced photoactivity was attributed to the dual function of HNTs enhancing (a) the abundance and stability of the photogenerated e⁻ and h⁺ pairs and (b) the adsorption of positively charged organics on the nanocomposite. Both functions originate from the charged surface of HNTs.

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C6RA15581B
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 15 Jun 2016
Accepted: 03 Sep 2016
First published: 05 Sep 2016

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RSC Adv., 2016,6, 86617-86626

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Solar and visible light photocatalytic enhancement of halloysite nanotubes/g-C₃N₄ heteroarchitectures

K. C. Christoforidis, M. Melchionna, T. Montini, D. Papoulis, E. Stathatos, S. Zafeiratos, E. Kordouli and P. Fornasiero, RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 86617 DOI: 10.1039/C6RA15581B

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