Issue 5, 2020

Influence of different bismuth oxyhalides on the photocatalytic activity of graphitic carbon nitride: a comparative study under natural sunlight

Abstract

The light harvesting properties and charge separation in the trending graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) material have been widely explored to enhance its photocatalytic performance employing doping, morphology control and composite formation. Herein, the effect of coupling of different bismuth oxyhalides, BiOX (X = F, Cl, Br and I), on the photocatalytic performance of g-C3N4 has been studied by synthesizing BiOX/g-C3N4 composites by a facile hydrothermal method. It was found that the BiOX/g-C3N4 composites showed enhanced photocatalytic degradation of a model pollutant, Congo red dye, under natural sunlight irradiation, as compared to the bare g-C3N4 and respective BiOX. The enhanced photocatalytic performance of the composites was attributed to the appropriate band edge potential and better interfacial contact between g-C3N4 and BiOX, which suppresses charge recombination and allows their better utilization at catalytic sites than in the case of bare g-C3N4 and respective BiOX. In comparison to all the BiOX/g-C3N4 composites, BiOBr/g-C3N4 showed the degradation of Congo red at a higher rate and was also found to be effective for the degradation of a colorless fungicide, carbendazim. Further, to look into the role of the active species responsible for this activity, trapping experiments have been carried out, which revealed that OH* was the main reactive species in the degradation process and, based on these results, a suitable mechanism for the enhanced photocatalytic activity has been proposed and discussed. Hence, the BiOX/g-C3N4 composite formation has proven beneficial for achieving high photocatalytic performance and provides new insight on bismuth oxyhalides and g-C3N4 based photocatalysts for environmental remediation application.

Graphical abstract: Influence of different bismuth oxyhalides on the photocatalytic activity of graphitic carbon nitride: a comparative study under natural sunlight

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
10 svi 2020
Accepted
30 lip 2020
First published
17 srp 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Mater. Adv., 2020,1, 1262-1272

Influence of different bismuth oxyhalides on the photocatalytic activity of graphitic carbon nitride: a comparative study under natural sunlight

M. Singh, A. Kumar and V. Krishnan, Mater. Adv., 2020, 1, 1262 DOI: 10.1039/D0MA00294A

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