Enhanced visible light photocatalytic water-splitting activity over LaVO4/g-C3N4 with oxygen defects

Abstract

A heterojunction structure LaVO₄/g-C₃N₄ composite with oxygen defects was successfully prepared. The characterization results show that the recombination of electron–hole pairs could be inhibited by the heterojunction structure. The LaVO₄/g-C₃N₄ composite shows superior photocatalytic water splitting performance for the generation of hydrogen and oxygen under visible light irradiation. Experimental data show that under visible light irradiation, the hydrogen and oxygen evolution rates of the LVOCN1 composite are much higher than those of fresh carbon nitride. Moreover, the photocatalytic activity of LaVO₄/g-C₃N₄ composites could be significantly enhanced by O defects. Mechanism studies display that the possible mechanism of the photocatalytic water splitting reaction is the Z scheme mechanism.