Improvement in Structure and Visible Light Catalytic Performance of g-C₃N₄ Fabricated at a Higher Temperature

Abstract

A highly-efficient graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) photocatalyst for visible light photodegradation of rhodamine B (RhB) and methyl orange (MO) simulating dyeing wastewater was synthesized by the thermal polycondensation of melamine. The photocatalysts were characterized by TG-DTG-DSC, XRD, EA, XPS, FT-IR, SEM, TEM, BET, PL and UV-vis DRS. The results showed that the photocatalytic performance of g-C3N4 at a higher calcination temperature was significantly enhanced, and its photocatalytic activities for the photodegradation of RhB and MO were remarkably improved by 64.91% and 41.83%, respectively, which was mainly attributed to the satisfactory crystallinity, stable graphene-like structure, large surface area, and excellent optical properties. It was found that •O2− radicals and •OH radicals were the main active species for the photodegradation process by the free radicals trapping experiments and ESR analysis. The photodegradation mechanism of g-C3N4 was proposed predicated using the characterization results.

Keywords

• g-C₃N₄
• photodegradation
• dyeing wastewater
• thermal polymerization
• crystallinity
• active species