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Ag2CO3 nanoparticles decorated g-C3N4 as a high-efficiency catalyst for photocatalytic degradation of organic contaminants

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Abstract

Visible light-driven Ag2CO3/g-C3N4 nanocomposite photocatalysts with different weight contents of Ag2CO3 were reported by combining two thermal annealing and simple chemical deposition methods. Ag2CO3 nanoparticles with an average particle size of 8.9 nm were homogeneously anchored on the surface of g-C3N4 nanosheets. The structure of Ag2CO3/g-C3N4 nanocomposite photocatalysts was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Ultraviolet–Visible absorption spectroscopy (UV–Vis). Under visible light irradiation, the photocatalytic activity of Ag2CO3/g-C3N4 nanocomposite photocatalysts was investigated using the degradation of methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB). The Ag2CO3/g-C3N4 nanocomposite photocatalysts can effectively degrade MO and MB, and exhibit much higher photocatalytic activity than that of single catalyst Ag2CO3 or g-C3N4. The Ag2CO3/g-C3N4 nanocomposite photocatalysts with 60 wt% of Ag2CO3 (Ag2CO3/g-C3N4-6) presented the best photocatalytic performance. The photodegradation efficiency of the Ag2CO3/g-C3N4-6 nanocomposite is up to 93.9% in 180 min for MO and 62.8% in 240 min for MB under visible light irradiation. In addition, the pseudo-first-order kinetics data display that the rate constants of Ag2CO3/g-C3N4-6 nanocomposite are 0.01509 min−1 and 0.00397 min−1 for MO and MB, which are 7.0 and 3.0 times of g-C3N4, respectively. The excellent photocatalytic performance of Ag2CO3/g-C3N4 nanocomposite photocatalysts can be attributed to the decreased size of the Ag2CO3 nanoparticles, their uniform dispersion as well as the synergistic effect between the Ag2CO3 nanoparticles and g-C3N4 nanosheets, which broaden the range of visible light response and enhanced the separation of photogenerated charge carriers.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Changzhou Sci & Tech Program (Grant No. CJ20190011), the Natural Science Foundation of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions of China (Grant No. 18KJD430001), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant Nos. BK20180019 and BK20171423), and Practice Innovation Training Program for College Students in Jiangsu (Grant No. 201813101019X).

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  1. Changzhou Institute of Technology, Changzhou, China

    Shugang Pan

  2. Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China

    Shugang Pan, Bingquan Jia & Yongsheng Fu

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Pan, S., Jia, B. & Fu, Y. Ag2CO3 nanoparticles decorated g-C3N4 as a high-efficiency catalyst for photocatalytic degradation of organic contaminants. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 32, 14464–14476 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-021-06005-2

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