A novel efficient g-C3N4@BiOI p–n heterojunction photocatalyst constructed through the assembly of g-C3N4 nanoparticles

Abstract

An efficient and facile method to fabricate a surficial dispersive heterojunction based on the assembly of g-C₃N₄ nanoparticles was proposed. A p–n nano heterojunction composed of BiOI and g-C₃N₄ was constructed by simply loading g-C₃N₄ nanoparticles on flower-like BiOI nanosheets. The structure-dependent optical, electronic and photoelectric properties were investigated, and the structure–property relationship was discussed. The results show that the g-C₃N₄ nanoparticles are uniformly loaded on the surface of BiOI nanosheets and thus form a p–n heterojunction with an intimate interface. The as-prepared samples exhibit enhanced photocatalytic degradation ability towards MO under visible-light irradiation. With the unique structure and morphology, enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activities are achieved owing to the synergistic effect of light harvesting, high transfer efficiency and enhanced separation efficiency of photo-generated carriers.