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Direct Z-Scheme Photocatalytic System: Ag2CO3/g-C3N4 Organic–Inorganic Hybrid with Superior Activity through Built-in Electric Field Transfer Mechanism

  • PHOTOCHEMISTRY AND MAGNETOCHEMISTRY
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Abstract

Development of new type of photocatalysts have become more and more important due to the spread of organic pollutants into the biological system, finally harm to the body. Inorganic nanoparticles showing good degradation properties have attracted many interests in recent years. In this work, a novel Z‑scheme Ag2CO3 nano-particle/g-C3N4 nanosheet heterostructure was successfully designed and synthesized via a facile in-situ solvothermal process, where the Ag2CO3 nanoparticle grew on the surfaces of tiny g‑C3N4 nanosheets in a face-to-face way. Nano-sized Ag2CO3 particles and g-C3N4 nanosheets were also synthesized and presented here. The structure, element composition, morphology, surface feature and light response capacity of as-prepared samples were analyzed through various physicochemical technologies. The photocatalytic activity of the as-synthesized materials against methyl orange (MO) decomposition was studied under visible light condition. The structure-property interrelationship for photocatalytic pollutants removal of the samples was also investigated. The results showed that 87% of MO could be removed by Ag2CO3/g-C3N4 composite within 1.0 h under visible light illumination and the dissolved oxygen is the main species to consume the photo-generated electrons, leads to the acceptable chemical stability of Ag2CO3 nanoparticles. The improvement in activity of Ag2CO3/g-C3N4 could be attributed to the heterojunction structure formed by Ag2CO3 hybridization with g-C3N4, which favors electron-hole separation via the Z‑scheme photoinduced charge carrier transfer mechanism.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (project no. 2013QC026).

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  1. Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, 430070, Wuhan, PR China

    Zhiwen Xiu, Dongfang Zhang & Jiaxun Wang

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  1. Zhiwen Xiu
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  2. Dongfang Zhang
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Correspondence to Dongfang Zhang or Jiaxun Wang.

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Xiu, Z., Zhang, D. & Wang, J. Direct Z-Scheme Photocatalytic System: Ag2CO3/g-C3N4 Organic–Inorganic Hybrid with Superior Activity through Built-in Electric Field Transfer Mechanism. Russ. J. Phys. Chem. 95, 1255–1268 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0036024421060273

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