Effective interface contact between components in heterojunction is crucial to realize high photocatalytic performance of photocatalyst. In this study, the improvement of heterojunction contact by forming new ternary heterostructure via calcining the mixture of tetracycline and melamine to obtain the graphene-like carbon ring grafted g-C3N4 and then coupling it with TiO2 is reported. The unique carbon ring, which is anchored into g-C3N4 basal domains, acts as a significant role to achieve the sufficient teranry heterojunction contact in the novel g-C3N4/carbon ring/TiO2 nanostrcture system. Under visible-light irradiation, the new ternary nanocomposite exhibits excellent photocatalytic activity for efficient removal of aqueous organic contaminants: methylene blue (98.6%), tetracycline (94.0%), and norfloxacin (95.3%), which is several times higher than that of the pristine one. The mechanism study indicates that the excellent photocatalytic activity is attributed to the effective heterojunction, which can successfully extend visible-light absorption, promote charge separation efficiency, and suppress recombination of the photocatalytic electron-hole pairs. Moreover, the electron spin resonance assay and radical scavenger experiments demonstrate that the photogenerated holes, superoxide anion radicals, and hydroxyl radical play vital roles in photocatalytic degradation process. Importantly, this work may open up novel insights into the design of ternary heterostructure with highly efficacious photocatalytic performance, which suggests attractive applications in environment protection

Construction of g-C3N4/carbon ring/TiO2 nanocomposite by improving heterojunction contact for enhanced photocatalytic performance

ACS Fall 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.