Facile Fabrication of Highly Efficient g‑C₃N₄/Ag₂O Heterostructured Photocatalysts with Enhanced Visible-Light Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract

Highly efficient visible-light-driven g-C₃N₄/Ag₂O heterostructured photocatalysts were prepared by a simple liquid phase synthesis method at room temperature. The composition, structure, morphology, and optical absorption properties of the as-prepared g-C₃N₄/Ag₂O composites were characterized by XRD, FTIR, XPS, TEM, and UV–vis DRS, respectively. We found interestingly that the photogenerated charge carriers separations of the as-prepared g-C₃N₄/Ag₂O composites were closely related to the mass ratio of g-C₃N₄ and Ag₂O. When the mass ratio of g-C₃N₄ and Ag₂O reached 1:4, the as-prepared composite exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity, which was almost 11 and 1.2 times as high as that of individual g-C₃N₄ and Ag₂O, respectively. The enhancement of photocatalytic activity could be attributed to the synergetic effects between g-C₃N₄ and Ag₂O as well as the improved dispersibility and the decreased particle size of Ag₂O. Moreover, the as-prepared composites showed excellent stability toward the photodegradation of methyl orange (MO). Finally, a possible photocatalytic and charge separation mechanism was proposed