Facile synthesis of two clay minerals supported graphitic carbon nitride composites as highly efficient visible-light-driven photocatalysts

Zhiming Sun; Chunquan Li; Xin Du; Shuilin Zheng; Guifang Wang

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2017.10.005

Facile synthesis of two clay minerals supported graphitic carbon nitride composites as highly efficient visible-light-driven photocatalysts

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2018 Feb 1:511:268-276. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2017.10.005. Epub 2017 Oct 4.

Authors

Zhiming Sun¹, Chunquan Li², Xin Du², Shuilin Zheng³, Guifang Wang⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing 100083, PR China. Electronic address: zhimingsun@cumtb.edu.cn.
² School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing 100083, PR China.
³ School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing 100083, PR China. Electronic address: shuilinzheng8@gmail.com.
⁴ College of Resources, Environment and Materials, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, PR China.

PMID: 29031146
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2017.10.005

Abstract

To overcome rapid electron-hole recombination and low adsorption capacity of single g-C₃N₄ photocatalyst, the present work reports on the fabrication of two kinds of visible-light-driven composite photocatalysts (g-C₃N₄/kaolinite and g-C₃N₄/illite composites). 2D/2D assembly was successfully achieved in this work. Furthermore, the as-synthesized composites exhibited significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity under visible-light irradiation, whose reaction rate constants were almost 4.13 times (g-C₃N₄/kaolinite) and 3.18 times (g-C₃N₄/illite) that of pure g-C₃N₄. A plausible reaction mechanism over the as-prepared composite photocatalysts was also proposed based on the experimental results obtained. The photocatalytic enhancement of synthesized composites should be attributed to the intimate interface contact between g-C₃N₄ and layered minerals, resulting in better dispersion performance, higher charge separation efficiency as well as stronger adsorption ability.

Keywords: Illite; Kaolinite; Photocatalyst; Rhodamine B; g-C(3)N(4).