Construction of g-C₃N₄-mNb₂O₅ Composites with Enhanced Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity

Meiyin Wang; Hui Wang; Yuanhang Ren; Cheng Wang; Zhewei Weng; Bin Yue; Heyong He

doi:10.3390/nano8060427

Construction of g-C₃N₄-mNb₂O₅ Composites with Enhanced Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2018 Jun 12;8(6):427. doi: 10.3390/nano8060427.

Authors

Meiyin Wang¹, Hui Wang², Yuanhang Ren³, Cheng Wang⁴, Zhewei Weng⁵, Bin Yue⁶, Heyong He⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China. 14110220018@fudan.edu.cn.
² Department of Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China. 17210220053@fudan.edu.cn.
³ Department of Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China. YuanhangRen@fudan.edu.cn.
⁴ Department of Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China. 15110220022@fudan.edu.cn.
⁵ Department of Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China. 16210220004@fudan.edu.cn.
⁶ Department of Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China. yuebin@fudan.edu.cn.
⁷ Department of Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China. heyonghe@fudan.edu.cn.

Abstract

A series of composites consisting of g-C₃N₄ sheet and mesoporous Nb₂O₅ (mNb₂O₅) microsphere were fabricated by in situ hydrolysis deposition of NbCl₅ onto g-C₃N₄ sheet followed by solvothermal treatment. The samples were characterized using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), N₂ adsorption-desorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). The photocatalytic activity of the composites was studied by degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) and tetracycline hydrochloride (TC-HCl) in aqueous solution under visible light irradiation (λ > 420 nm). Compared with g-C₃N₄ and mNb₂O₅, g-C₃N₄-mNb₂O₅ composites have higher photocatalytic activity due to synergistic effect between g-C₃N₄ and mNb₂O₅. Among these composites, 4% g-C₃N₄-mNb₂O₅ has the highest efficiency and good recyclability for degradation of both RhB and TC-HCl.

Keywords: g-C3N4; mesoporous Nb2O5; organic pollutant; photocatalytic degradation.