Synthesis of a well-dispersed CaFe2O4/g-C3N4/CNT composite towards the degradation of toxic water pollutants under visible light

Fei Liu; Shaocan Dong; Zhaoxiang Zhang; Xiaqing Li; Xiaodong Dai; Yanping Xin; Xuewu Wang; Kun Liu; Zhenhe Yuan; Zheng Zheng

doi:10.1039/c9ra05005a

Synthesis of a well-dispersed CaFe₂O₄/g-C₃N₄/CNT composite towards the degradation of toxic water pollutants under visible light

RSC Adv. 2019 Aug 15;9(44):25750-25761. doi: 10.1039/c9ra05005a. eCollection 2019 Aug 13.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Shengli College, China University of Petroleum Dongying Shandong 257061 China lf88888888lz@sina.com.
² Shengli Oilfield Company Postdoctoral Research Station, Sinopec Dongying Shandong 257000 China.
³ Petroleum Engineering Technology Research Institute of Shengli Oilfield Company, SINOPEC Dongying Shandong 257000 China.

Abstract

Herein, we fabricated a ternary photocatalyst composed of CaFe₂O₄, multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) via a simple hydrothermal route. CaFe₂O₄ acted as a photosensitizer medium and the CNT acted as a co-catalyst, which remarkably enhanced the photocatalytic performances of g-C₃N₄ towards the degradation of hexavalent chromium (Cr(vi)) and the antibiotic tetracycline (TC) under visible light irradiation. To investigate the morphological and topological features of the photocatalyst, field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses were performed. The surface properties and oxidation state of the CaFe₂O₄/g-C₃N₄/CNT composite were determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The recombination rate of the charge carriers and the band gap values of the as-synthesized catalysts were analyzed by photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and diffused reflectance spectroscopy (UV/Vis DRS) studies, respectively. Besides the degradation reactions, the high hydrogen production rate of 1050 μmol h^-1 under visible light using the CaFe₂O₄/g-C₃N₄/CNT composite loaded with 5 wt% CNT was observed. The superior photocatalytic performances of the CaFe₂O₄/g-C₃N₄/CNT composite can be ascribed to the effective heterojunction formed between g-C₃N₄ and the CaFe₂O₄ matrix, in which the CNT act as a conducting bridge in the system, promoting the production of photoinduced charge carriers in the semiconductor system. Finally, the plausible photocatalytic mechanism towards the degradation of pollutants and hydrogen production was discussed carefully.