Abstract
Graphitized carbon nitride (g-C3N4)/tungsten nitride (W2N3) heterostructure was synthesized by high temperature calcination method without using any catalysts and templates. The prepared g-C3N4/W2N3 heterostructure showed an excellent photocatalytic performance under visible light irradiation. The characterization results demonstrated that the W2N3 nanosheets were coated on g-C3N4 nanosheets. The heterostructure of W2N3 and g-C3N4 not only enhanced the absorption capacity of visible light, but also promoted the photocatalytic activity of methyl orange (MO) by separating photogenerated electron hole pairs. The g-C3N4/0.1%W2N3 heterostructure degrades approximately 98% of MO in 1 h. Especially, the g-C3N4/W2N3 heterostructure exhibits a highly stable and reproducible property, indicating that it has potential applications in photocatalysis and other fields.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article.
References
W. Zou, W.C. Hao, X. Xin, T.M. Wang, Visible-light photocatalytic properties of γ-Bi2O3 composited with Fe2O3. Chin. J. Inorg. Chem. 25, 1971–1976 (2009)
Y. Xia, Z. He, J. Su, S. Zhu, B. Tang, Sustainable solar-light-driven SrTiO3/PbBiO2Br nanocomposites with enhanced photocatalytic activity. J. Electron. Mater. 49(5), 3259–3268 (2020)
J. Wen, X. Li, H. Li, S. Ma, K. He, Y. Xu, Y. Fang, W. Liu, Q. Gao, Enhanced visible-light H2 evolution of g-C3N4 photocatalysts via the synergetic effect of amorphous NiS and cheap metal-free carbon black nanoparticles as co-catalysts. Appl. Surf. Sci. 358, 204–212 (2015)
S. Wang, H. Gao, J. Li, Y. Wang, C. Chen, X. Yu, S. Tang, X. Zhao, G. Sun, D. Li, Comparative study of the photoluminescence performance and photocatalytic activity of CeO2/MgAl2O4 composite materials with an n-n heterojunction prepared by one-step synthesis and two-step synthesis methods. J. Phys. Chem. Solids 150, 109891 (2021)
T. Cheng, H. Gao, X. Sun, T. Xian, S. Wang, Z. Yi, G. Liu, X. Wang, H. Yang, An excellent Z-scheme Ag2MoO4/Bi4Ti3O12 heterojunction photocatalyst: construction strategy and application in environmental purification. Adv. Powder Technol. 32(3), 951–962 (2021)
R.C. Ding, Y.Z. Fan, G.S. Wang, High efficient Cu2O/TiO2 Nanocomposite Photocatalyst to Degrade Organic polluant under visible light irradiation. ChemistrySelect 3(6), 1682–1687 (2018)
D. Vrushabendrakumar, H. Rajashekhar, S. Riddell, A.P. Kalra, K.M. Alam, K. Shankar, Synthesis, characterization, and visible light photocatalytic activity of solution-processed free standing 2D Bi2O2Se nanosheets. Nanotechnology 32(48), 485602 (2021)
Z. Cui, H. Yang, X. Zhao, Enhanced photocatalytic performance of g-C3N4/Bi4Ti3O12 heterojunction nanocomposites. Mater. Sci. Eng. B 229, 160–172 (2018)
Y. Wang, H. Xu, G. Zan, T. Wu, Q. Wu, A pie-like structure double-sidedly assembled with ZnO-nanodisks vertically on Cu-nanoplates and its photochemical properties. Chemosphere 259, 127292 (2020)
G. Zhang, J. Zhang, M. Zhang, X. Wang, Polycondensation of thiourea into carbon nitride semiconductors as visible light photocatalysts. J. Mater. Chem. 22(16), 8083 (2012)
Y. Li, K. Lv, W. Ho, Z. Zhao, Y. Huang, Enhanced visible-light photo-oxidation of nitric oxide using bismuth-coupled graphitic carbon nitride composite heterostructures. Chin. J. Catal. 38(2), 321–329 (2017)
D. Zheng, C. Huang, X. Wang, Post-annealing reinforced hollow carbon nitride nanospheres for hydrogen photosynthesis. Nanoscale 7(2), 465–470 (2015)
X. Qu, S. Hu, J. Bai, P. Li, G. Lu, X. Kang, A facile approach to synthesize oxygen doped g-C3N4 with enhanced visible light activity under anoxic conditions via oxygen-plasma treatment. New J. Chem 42(7), 4998–5004 (2018)
J. Ran, T.Y. Ma, G. Gao, X.W. Du, S.Z. Qiao, Porous P-doped graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets for synergistically enhanced visible-light photocatalytic H2 production. Energy Environ. Sci. 8, 3708–3717 (2015)
Q. Han, Z. Cheng, B. Wang, H. Zhang, L. Qu, Significant enhancement of visible-light-driven hydrogen evolution by structure regulation of Carbon Nitrides. ACS Nano 12(6), 5221–5227 (2018)
N. Chaulagain, K.M. Alam, S. Kadian, N. Kumar, J. Garcia, G. Manik, K. Shankar, Synergistic enhancement of the photoelectrochemical performance of TiO2 nanorod arrays through embedded plasmon and surface carbon nitride co-sensitization. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 14, 24309–24320 (2022)
L. Ren, X. Qi, Y. Liu, Z. Huang, X. Wei, J. Li, L. Yang, J. Zhong, Upconversion-P25-graphene composite as an advanced sunlight driven photocatalytic hybrid material. J. Mater. Chem. A 22(23), 11765 (2012)
T. Xiong, W. Cen, Y. Zhang, F. Dong, Bridging the g-C3N4 interlayers for enhanced photocatalysis. ACS Catal. 6(4), 2462–2472 (2016)
Z.F. Huang, J. Song, L. Pan, Z. Wang, X. Zhang, J.J. Zou, W. Mi, X. Zhang, L. Wang, Carbon nitride with simultaneous porous network and O-doping for efficient solar-energy-driven hydrogen evolution. Nano Energy 12, 646–656 (2015)
M. Li, L. Zhang, X. Fan, M. Wu, M. Wang, R. Cheng, L. Zhang, H. Yao, J. Shi, Core-shell LaPO4/g-C3N4 nanowires for highly active and selective CO2 reduction. Appl. Catal. B 201, 629–635 (2017)
H. Huang, S. Yang, R. Vajtai, X. Wang, P.M. Ajayan, Pt-decorated 3D architectures built from graphene and graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets as efficient methanol oxidation catalysts. Adv. Mater. 26(30), 5160–5165 (2014)
X. Zhang, X. Xie, H. Wang, J. Zhang, B. Pan, Y. Xie, Enhanced photoresponsive ultrathin graphitic-phase C3N4 nanosheets for bioimaging. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 135(1), 18–21 (2013)
S. Shi, M.A. Gondal, A.A. Al-Saadi, R. Fajgar, J. Kupcik, X. Chang, K. Shen, Q. Xu, Z.S. Seddigi, Facile preparation of g-C3N4 modified BiOCl hybrid photocatalyst and vital role of frontier orbital energy levels of model compounds in photoactivity enhancement. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 416, 212–219 (2014)
Q. Zhang, P. Chen, L. Chen, M. Wu, X. Dai, P. Xing, H. Lin, L. Zhao, Y. He, Facile fabrication of novel Ag S/K-g-C3N4 composite and its enhanced performance in photocatalytic H2 evolution. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 568, 117–129 (2020)
H. Zhang, F. Liu, H. Wu, X. Cao, J. Sun, W. Lei, In situ synthesis of g-C3N4/TiO2 heterostructures with enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution under visible light. RSC Adv. 7(64), 40327–40333 (2017)
W.J. Ong, L.L. Tan, Y.H. Ng, S.T. Yong, Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4)-based photocatalysts for artificial photosynthesis and environmental remediation: are we a step closer to achieving sustainability? Nano Res. 116, 7159–7329 (2016)
S. Tan, B.M. Tackett, Q. He, J.H. Lee, J.G. Chen, S.S. Wong, Synthesis and electrocatalytic applications of flower-like motifs and associated composites of nitrogen-enriched tungsten nitride (W2N3). Nano Res. 13(5), 1434–1443 (2020)
D. Ham, J. Lee, Transition metal carbides and nitrides as electrode materials for low temperature fuel cells. Energies 2(4), 873–899 (2009)
K. Xia, Z. Chen, J. Yi, H. Xu, Y. Yu, X. She, Z. Mo, H. Chen, Y. Xu, H. Li, Highly efficient visible-light-driven Schottky catalyst MoN/2D g-C3N4 for hydrogen production and organic pollutants degradation. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 57(27), 8863–8870 (2018)
H. Yu, X. Yang, X. Xiao, M. Chen, Q. Zhang, L. Huang, J. Wu, T. Li, S. Chen, L. Song, L. Gu, B.Y. Xia, G. Feng, J. Li, J. Zhou, Atmospheric-pressure synthesis of 2D nitrogen-rich tungsten nitride. Adv. Mater. 30(51), e1805655 (2018)
Y.D. Hou, A.B. Laursen, J.S. Zhang, G.G. Zhang, Y.S. Zhu, X.C. Wang, S. Dahl, I.Chorkendorff, layered nanojunctions for hydrogen-evolution catalysis. Angew Chem. Int. Ed. 52, 3621–3625 (2013)
J.G. Yu, K. Wang, W. Xiao, B. Cheng, Photocatalytic reduction of CO2 into hydrocarbon solar fuels over g-C3N4–Pt nanocomposite photocatalysts. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 16, 11492–11501 (2014)
H. Jin, L. Li, X. Liu, C. Tang, W. Xu, S. Chen, L. Song, Y. Zheng, S.Z. Qiao, Nitrogen Vacancies on 2D layered W2N3: a stable and efficient active site for nitrogen reduction reaction. Adv. Mater. 31(32), e1902709 (2019)
S. Pany, K.M. Parida, A facile in situ approach to fabricate N, S-TiO2/g-C3N4 nanocomposite with excellent activity for visible light induced water splitting for hydrogen evolution. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 17(12), 8070–8077 (2015)
C. Ye, J.X. Li, Z.J. Li, X.B. Li, X.B. Fan, L.P. Zhang, B. Chen, C.H. Tung, L.Z. Wu, Enhanced driving force and charge separation efficiency of protonated g-C3N4 for photocatalytic O2 evolution. ACS Catal. 5(11), 6973–6979 (2015)
Z. Zhao, Z. Shu, J. Zhou, W. Wang, T. Li, J. Chen, Facile one-pot synthesis of C, O-codoped nano-structured g-C3N4 with superior photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Mater. Res. Bull. 145, 111565 (2022)
S. Tonda, W.K. Jo, Plasmonic Ag nanoparticles decorated NiAl-layered double hydroxide/graphitic carbon nitride nanocomposites for efficient visible-light-driven photocatalytic removal of aqueous organic pollutants. Catal. Today 315, 213–222 (2018)
W. Chen, T.Y. Liu, T. Huang, X.H. Liu, X.J. Yang, Novel mesoporous P-doped graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets coupled with ZnIn2S4 nanosheets as efficient visible light driven heterostructures with remarkably enhanced photo-reduction activity. Nanoscale 8(6), 3711–3719 (2016)
Y. Xu, H. Xu, J. Yan, H. Li, L. Huang, J. Xia, S. Yin, H. Shu, A plasmonic photocatalyst of Ag/AgBr nanoparticles coupled with g-C3N4 with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic ability. Colloids Surf. A Physicochem. Eng. Asp. 436, 474–483 (2013)
Y. Hou, Y. Zhu, Y. Xu, X. Wang, Photocatalytic hydrogen production over carbon nitride loaded with WS2 as cocatalyst under visible light. Appl. Catal. B 156–157, 122–127 (2014)
M.A. Ferreira, G.T.S.T. da Silva, O.F. Lopes, V.R. Mastelaro, C. Ribeiro, M.J.M. Pires, A.R. Malagutti, W. Avansi, H.A.J.L. Mourão, Fabrication of SrTiO3/g-C3N4 heterostructures for visible light-induced photocatalysis. Mater. Sci. Semicond. Process 108, 104887 (2020)
W. Zhang, Y. Su, X. Zhang, Y. Yang, X. Guo, Facile synthesis of porous NiCo2O4 nanoflakes as magnetic recoverable catalysts towards the efficient degradation of RhB. RSC Adv. 6(69), 64626–64633 (2016)
X. Zhang, W. Shi, J. Zhu, W. Zhao, J. Ma, S. Mhaisalkar, T.L. Maria, Y. Yang, H. Zhang, H.H. Hng, Q. Yan, Synthesis of porous NiO nanocrystals with controllable surface area and their application as supercapacitor electrodes. Nano Res. 3(9), 643–652 (2010)
L. Zhong, M. Ying, Z. Mou, R. Luo, J. Sun, D. Liu, W. Lei, Template-free preparation of carbon nitride hollow spheres with adjustable sizes for photocatalytic hydrogen generation. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 612, 479–487 (2022)
L. Wang, Y. Hong, E. Liu, X. Duan, X. Lin, J. Shi, A bottom-up acidification strategy engineered ultrathin g-C3N4 nanosheets towards boosting photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Carbon 163, 234–243 (2020)
A. Yuan, H. Lei, F. Xi, J. Liu, L. Qin, Z. Chen, X. Dong, Graphene quantum dots decorated graphitic carbon nitride nanorods for photocatalytic removal of antibiotics. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 548, 56–65 (2019)
Funding
This work was supported by the development of Science and Technology of Jilin Province (No. YDZJ202201ZYTS629), Program for the Science and Technology of Education Department of Jilin Province (No. JJKH20220441KJ) and Graduate Education Innovation Program of Jilin Normal University (No. 202010).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
YT and WL conceived and designed the experiments. YT and NL collected and analyzed the data. The first draft of the manuscript was written by YT. XL, WL and JY provided valuable discussions and suggestions. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Tian, Y., Li, X., Lei, W. et al. g-C3N4/W2N3 heterostructure photocatalyst for enhancing the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange under visible light. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 34, 1026 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-10426-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-10426-6