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Superoxide (•O2−) radical species driven type II TiO2/g-C3N4 heterojunction photocatalyst for RhB dye degradation

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Abstract

The photocatalysts possess prime importance from sustainable environment view point since they decompose detrimental substances. In this work, we report a type II heterojunction of titanium dioxide/graphitic carbon nitride (TiO2/g-C3N4) photocatalysts for degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) dye under UV–Visible light irradiation. The pristine TiO2 and g-C3N4 materials are prepared by hydrothermal and thermolysis methods, respectively. The heterojunction photocatalysts, i.e. TiO2/g-C3N4 are synthesized with different weight% (wt%) loadings of TiO2 over g-C3N4 by hydrothermal method. The physico-chemical properties of all photocatalysts are analysed by different characterization techniques. Compared with the pristine phase of TiO2 and g-C3N4, the heterojunction photocatalysts showed improved efficiency due to effective charge transfer between TiO2 with g-C3N4 and enhanced visible light harvesting. Owing to effective superlative light absorption and generation of the large number of electron–hole pairs, suppression of recombination centres, formation of active species (specially •O2−), etc., 5 wt% loaded TiO2/g-C3N4 photocatalyst demonstrated superior performance. Moreover, 5 wt% loaded TiO2/g-C3N4 photocatalyst exhibited recyclability with high activity (92% after 4 cycles) and thus, we believe it possesses potential for use in industrial water treatment.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Prof. Dr. Parasharam M. Shirage, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Indore, Indore, India for providing FESEM instrumental facility. Authors are also thankful to Prof. Dr. S. R. Jadkar and Ms Shruti Shah, Department of Physics, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, India for their support in photocurrent measurements.

Funding

The authors are grateful to Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, India for the financial support.

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  1. Thin Films and Nanomaterials Laboratory, Department of Physics, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, 411007, India

    Smita M. Yadav, Mangesh A. Desai & Shrikrishna D. Sartale

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  1. Smita M. Yadav
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SMY contributed to conceptualization, data collection and analysis and manuscript writing, MAD contributed to data analysis, manuscript writing and editing, SDS contributed to supervision, review, editing and funding. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mangesh A. Desai or Shrikrishna D. Sartale.

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Yadav, S.M., Desai, M.A. & Sartale, S.D. Superoxide (•O2−) radical species driven type II TiO2/g-C3N4 heterojunction photocatalyst for RhB dye degradation. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 34, 1651 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-11019-z

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