Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology

, Volume 72, Issue 3, pp 443–454 | Cite as

Synthesis and characterization of g-C3N4/BiVO4 composite photocatalysts with improved visible-light-driven photocatalytic performance

Original Paper
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Novel visible-light-driven g-C3N4/BiVO4 composite photocatalysts were fabricated via sol–gel and simple mixing and heating methods. The photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric, Fourier transform infrared, transmission electron microscope, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectra. The results indicated that BiVO4 was well dispersed on g-C3N4 sheet and an interaction between g-C3N4 and BiVO4 was confirmed, which were facile to the electron transfer from g-C3N4 to BiVO4 species. The mechanism was further induced to the heterojunction effect to improve the photocatalytic efficiency. The g-C3N4/BiVO4 heterojunction at a weight ratio of 80 % calcined at 500 °C exhibited the most excellent photocatalytic ability for RhB decolorization under visible-light irradiation (λ > 420 nm) which was extraordinary more active than that of pure components.

Keywords

g-C3N4/BiVO4 Heterojunction Photocatalytic decolorization Visible light 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the Assembly Foundation of The Industry and Information Ministry of the People’s Republic of China 2012 (543), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U1162119), Scientific Research Project of Environmental Protection Department of Jiangsu Province (2013003) and (201112), Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (20113219110009), Industry-Academia Cooperation Innovation Fund Projects of Jiangsu Province (BY2012025) and the research fund of Key Laboratory for Advanced Technology in Environmental Protection of Jiangsu Province (AE201001).

Supplementary material

10971_2014_3454_MOESM1_ESM.doc (14.5 mb)
Supplementary material 1 (DOC 14824 kb)

References

  1. 1.
    Fujishima A, Honda K (1972) Electrochemical photolysis of water at a semiconductor electrode. Nature 238:37–38CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. 2.
    Lv KL, Li XF, Deng KJ, Sun J, Li XH, Li M (2010) Effect of phase structures on the photocatalytic activity of surface fluorinated TiO2. Appl Catal B Environ 95:383–392CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. 3.
    Hong SJ, Lee S, Jang JS, Lee JS (2011) Heterojunction BiVO4/WO3 electrodes for enhanced photoactivity of water oxidation. Energy Environ Sci 4:1781–1787CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. 4.
    Chatchai P, Nosaka AY, Nosaka Y (2013) Photoelectrocatalytic performance of WO3/BiVO4 toward the dye degradation. Electrochim Acta 94:314–319CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. 5.
    Yan J, Wang C, Xu H, Xu YG, She XJ, Chen JJ, Song YH, Li HM, Zhang Q (2013) AgI/AgPO4 heterojunction composites with enhanced photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation. Appl Surf Sci 287:178–186CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. 6.
    Yu JG, Yu XX (2008) Hydrothermal synthesis and photocatalytic activity of zinc oxide hollow sphere. Environ Sci Technol 42:4902–4907CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. 7.
    Wang XC, Maeda K, Thomas A, Takanabe K, Xin G, Carlsson J, Domen JK, Antonietti M (2009) A metal-free polymeric photocatalyst for hydrogen production from water under visible light. nat. Mater 8:76–80Google Scholar
  8. 8.
    Ge L, Han CC (2012) Synthesis of MWNTs/g-C3N4 composite photocatalysts with efficient visible light photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity. Appl Catal B Environ 117–118:268–274CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. 9.
    Xu L, Xia JX, Xu H, Yin S, Wang K, Wang LG, Huang LY, Li HM (2014) Reactable ionic liquid assisted solvothermal synthesis of graphite-like C3N4 hybridized α-Fe2O3 hollow microspheres with enhanced supercapacitive performance. J Power Sources 245:866–874CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. 10.
    Huang ZJ, Li FB, Chen BF, Lu T, Yuan Y, Yuan GQ (2013) Well-dispersed g-C3N4 nanophases in mesoporous silica channels and their catalytic activity for carbon dioxide activation and conversion. Appl Catal B Environ 136–137:269–277CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. 11.
    Wang SM, Li DL, Sun C, Yang SG, Guan Y, He H (2014) Synthesis and characterization of g-C3N4/Ag3VO4 composites with significantly enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity for triphenylmethane dye degradation. Appl Catal B Environ l144:885–892CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. 12.
    Niu P, Zhang LL, Liu G, Cheng HM (2012) Graphene-like carbon nitride nanosheets for improved photocatalytic activities. Adv Funct Mater 22:4763–4770CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. 13.
    Han CC, Ge L, Chen CF, Li YJ, Xiao XL, Zhang YN, Guo LL (2014) Novel visible light induced Co3O4-g-C3N4 heterojunction photocatalysts for efficient degradation of methyl orange. Appl Catal B Environ 147:546–553CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. 14.
    Yuan YP, Cao SW, Liao YS, Yin LS, Xue C (2013) Red phosphor/g-C3N4 heterojunction with enhanced photocatalytic activities for solar fuels production. Appl Catal B Environ 140–141:164–168CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. 15.
    Li XH, Chen JS, Wang XC, Sun JH, Antonietti M (2011) Metal-free activation of dioxygen by graphene/g-C3N4 nanocomposites: functional dyads for selective oxidation of saturated hydrocarbons. J Am Chem Soc 133:8074–8077CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. 16.
    Sun LM, Zhao X, Jia CJ, Zhou YX, Cheng XF, Li P, Fan WL (2012) Enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4-ZnWO4 by fabricating a heterojunction: investigation based on experimental and theoretical studies. J Mater Chem 22:23428–23438CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. 17.
    Ge L, Han CC, Liu J (2011) Novel visible light-induced g-C3N4/Bi2WO6 composite photocatalysts for efficient degradation of methyl orange. Appl Catal B Environ 108–109:100–107CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. 18.
    Zhang FJ, Xie XZ, Zhu SF, Liu J, Zhang J, Mei SF, Zhao W (2013) A novel photofunctional g-C3N4/Ag3PO4 bulk heterojunction for decolorization of RhB. Chem Eng J 228:435–441CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. 19.
    Zhang L, Chen DR, Jiao XL (2006) Monoclinic structured BiVO4 nanosheets: hydrothermal preparation, formation mechanism, and coloristic and photocatalytic properties. J Phy Chem B 110:2668–2673CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. 20.
    Fu YS, Sun XQ, Wang X (2011) BiVO4-graphene catalyst and its high photocatalytic performance under visible light irradiation. Mater Chem Phys 131:325–330CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. 21.
    Guan ML, Hu SW, Chen YJ, Huang SM (2011) From hollow olive-shaped BiVO4 to n-p core-shell BiVO4@Bi2O3 microspheres controlled synthesis and enhanced visible-light-responsive photocatalytic properties. Inorg Chem 50:800–805CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. 22.
    Wang M, Zheng HY, Liu Q, Niu C, Che YS, Dang MY (2013) High performance B doped BiVO4 photocatalyst with visible light response by citric acid complex method. Spectrochim. Acta. Part A Mol Bio 11:74–79CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. 23.
    Li TT, Zhao LH, He YM, Cai J, Luo MF, Lin JJ (2013) Synthesis of g-C3N4/SmVO4 composite photocatalyst with improved visible light photocatalytic activities in RhB degradation. Appl Catal B Environ 129:255–263CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. 24.
    Huang LY, Xu H, Li YP, Li HM, Cheng XN, Xia JX, Xu YG, Cai GB (2013) Visible-light-induced WO3/g-C3N4 composites with enhanced photocatalytic activity. Dalton Trans 42:8606–8616CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. 25.
    Huang LY, Li YP, Xu H, Xu YG, Xia JX, Wang K, Li HM, Cheng XN (2013) Synthesis and characterization of CeO2/g-C3N4 composites with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity. RSC Adv 3:22269–22279CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. 26.
    Yan HJ, Yang HX (2011) TiO2-g-C3N4 composite materials for photocatalytic H2 evolution under visible light irradiation. J Alloys Compd 509:L26–L29CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. 27.
    Kang HW, Lim SN, Song DS, Park SB (2012) Organic-inorganic composite of g-C3N4-SrTiO3: Rh photocatalyst for improved H2 evolution under visible light irradiation. J Hydrogen Energy 37:11602–11610CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. 28.
    Yang M, Huang Q, Jin XQ (2012) ZnGaNO solid solution-C3N4 composite for improved visible light photocatalytic performance. Mater Sci Eng B 177:600–605CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. 29.
    Liu JB, Wang H, Wang S, Yan H (2003) Hydrothermal preparation of BiVO4 powders. Mater Sci Eng B 104:36–39CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. 30.
    He YM, Cai J, Zhang LH, Wang XX, Lin HJ, Teng BT, Zhao LH, Weng WZ, Wan HL, Fan MH (2014) Comparing two new composite photocatalysts, t-LaVO4/g-C3N4 and m-LaVO4/g-C3N4, for their structures and performances. Ind Eng Chem Res 53:5905–5915CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. 31.
    Miranda C, Mansilla H, Yáñez J, Obregón S, Colón G (2013) Improved photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4/TiO2 composites prepared by a simple impregnation method. J Photochem Photobiol A Chem 253:16–21CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. 32.
    Wang XJ, Wang Q, Li FT, Yang WY, Zhao Y, Hao YJ, Liu SJ (2013) Novel BiOCl-C3N4 heterojunction photocatalysts: in situ preparation via an ionic-liquid-assisted solvent-thermal route and their visible-light photocatalytic activities. Chem Eng J 234:361–371CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. 33.
    Wang WZ, Huang XW, Wu S, Zhou YX, Wang LJ, Shi HL, Liang YJ, Zou B (2013) Preparation of p-n junction Cu2O/BiVO4 heterogeneous nanostructures with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity. Appl Catal B Environ 134–135:293–301CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  34. 34.
    Xu YG, Xu H, Yan J, Li HM, Huang LY, Xia JX, Yin S, Shu HM (2013) A plasmonic photocatalyst of Ag/AgBr nanoparticles coupled with g-C3N4 with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity. Colloid Surf A-Physicochem Eng Asp 436:474–483CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. 35.
    Liu W, Cao LX, Su G, Liu HS, Wang XF, Zhang L (2010) Ultrasound assisted synthesis of monoclinic structured spindle BiVO4 particles with hollow structure and its photocatalytic property. Ultrason Sonochem 17:669–674CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. 36.
    Liu W, Wang ML, Xu CX, Chen SF (2012) Facile synthesis of g-C3N4/ZnO composite with enhanced visible light photooxidation and photoreduction properties. Chem Eng J 209:386–393CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  37. 37.
    Ye LQ, Liu JY, Jiang Z, Peng TY, Zan L (2013) Facets coupling of BiOBr-g-C3N4 composite photocatalyst for enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity. Appl Catal B Environ 142–143:1–7Google Scholar
  38. 38.
    He YM, Cai J, Li TT, Wu Y, Lin HJ, Zhao LH, Luo MF (2013) Efficient degradation of RhB over GdVO4/g-C3N4 composites under visible-light irradiation. Chem Eng J 215–216:721–730CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.School of Chemical EngineeringNanjing University of Science and TechnologyNanjingPeople’s Republic of China
  2. 2.Nanjing AIREP Environmental Protection Technology Co., LtdNanjingPeople’s Republic of China

Personalised recommendations