Constructing Z-scheme carbon-rich carbon nitride/TiO2 photocatalyst for improved photocatalytic activity

Abstract

A carbon-rich polymeric carbon nitride/TiO2 photocatalyst was prepared by self-assembling for photodegradation of pollutant. The model pollutant, rhodamine B, was almost completely decomposed by the photocatalyst within 10 min of white light irradiation. The radical trapping experiment suggested the photogenerated electrons, photogenerated holes and hydroxyl radicals are the predominant active species for RhB removal, which also demonstrated the migration of charge carriers followed the Z-scheme transfer path. Beside, the enhanced light harvesting ability and accelerated charge separation are also beneficial to the highly efficient photocatalytic activity. This work provides a simple method to construct Z-scheme photocatalyst.

Keywords

• Photocatalysis
• Z-scheme composites
• Pollutants removal