Synthesis and characterization of g-C3N4/Ag2CO3 with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity for the degradation of organic pollutants

Abstract

A facile, simple method was developed for the synthesis of g-C₃N₄/Ag₂CO₃ at room temperature. The samples were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and Fourier transformed infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of g-C₃N₄/Ag₂CO₃ composites for the photo-degradation of methyl orange (MO) was much higher than that of the pure Ag₂CO₃. The kinetics of the g-C₃N₄/Ag₂CO₃ composites were proposed. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy of g-C₃N₄/Ag₂CO₃ composites and a series of radical trapping experiment were also carried out to explore the possible photocatalytic mechanism. The results indicated that the enhanced photocatalytic activity of g-C₃N₄/Ag₂CO₃ composites under visible light irradiation was attributed to the formed heterostructure between g-C₃N₄ and Ag₂CO₃, which was beneficial to the separation of the photoinduced electron–hole pairs.