Toward NIR driven photocatalyst: Fabrication, characterization, and photocatalytic activity of β-NaYF4:Yb(3+),Tm(3+)/g-C3N4 nanocomposite

Min-Zhong Huang; Baoling Yuan; Leyang Dai; Ming-Lai Fu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2015.08.063

Toward NIR driven photocatalyst: Fabrication, characterization, and photocatalytic activity of β-NaYF4:Yb(3+),Tm(3+)/g-C3N4 nanocomposite

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2015 Dec 15:460:264-72. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2015.08.063. Epub 2015 Aug 28.

Authors

Min-Zhong Huang¹, Baoling Yuan², Leyang Dai³, Ming-Lai Fu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 1799 Jimei Road, Xiamen, Fujian 361021, China; College of Marine Engineering, Jimei University, No. 176 Shigu Road, Xiamen, Fujian 361021, China.
² College of Civil Engineering, Huaqiao University, No. 668 Jimei Road, Xiamen, Fujian 361020, China.
³ College of Marine Engineering, Jimei University, No. 176 Shigu Road, Xiamen, Fujian 361021, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 1799 Jimei Road, Xiamen, Fujian 361021, China. Electronic address: mlfu@iue.ac.cn.

PMID: 26343979
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2015.08.063

Abstract

The β-NaYF4:Yb(3+),Tm(3+)/g-C3N4 (NYT/C3N4) photocatalyst has been successfully fabricated by a stepwise method. Firstly, the advanced near-infrared (NIR) driven photocatalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and UV-Vis-NIR diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. It was found that NYT/C3N4 photocatalyst consisted of uniform hexagonal phase NaYF4 nanocrystals with about 20nm diameter distributed on surface of g-C3N4 sheets, and the NYT/C3N4 composite exhibited strong near-infrared light absorption and the energy transfer from β-NaYF4:Yb(3+),Tm(3+) to g-C3N4 was confirmed. Secondly, the photocatalytic activities of the catalysts were evaluated by the degradation of methyl blue dye and colorless phenol under the irradiation of 980nm laser. The results suggested that NYT/C3N4 nanocomposite is an advanced NIR-driven photocatalyst. Moreover the NYT/C3N4 photocatalyst showed good stability for photocatalytic decoloration of dye in the recycled tests. This study suggested a promising system to utilize the NIR energy of sunlight for photochemical and photoelectrical applications based on g-C3N4, which will contribute to the utilization of solar energy in the future.

Keywords: Degradation; Graphitic carbon nitride; Near infrared; Photocatalyst; Pollutant; Upconversion.