Issue 50, 2015

Enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity of Ag2O/g-C3N4 p–n heterojunctions synthesized via a photochemical route for degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride

Abstract

Ag2O/g-C3N4 p–n heterojunctions were successfully fabricated by a facile photochemical method and applied as a photocatalyst in the degradation of antibiotic tetracycline hydrochloride (TC-HCl) under visible light irradiation. The samples were well characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS). The results demonstrated that Ag2O nanoparticles with sizes of 5–15 nm were distributed on the surface of g-C3N4 to form the Ag2O/g-C3N4 p–n heterojunctions. The heterojunctions were conducive to the high dispersibility of small Ag2O nanoparticles and the efficient separation of photogenerated electron–hole pairs, resulting in the enhancement of photocatalytic activity by using Ag2O/g-C3N4 heterojunctions as the photocatalyst compared to pure Ag2O and g-C3N4 in TC-HCl degradation. In particular, the degradation rate of TC-HCl was 1.21 and 3.52 times higher than that of pure Ag2O and g-C3N4, respectively. Furthermore, the stability of the Ag2O/g-C3N4 photocatalyst toward the degradation process under visible light irradiation was investigated.

Graphical abstract: Enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity of Ag2O/g-C3N4 p–n heterojunctions synthesized via a photochemical route for degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
07 Mar 2015
Accepted
27 Apr 2015
First published
27 Apr 2015

RSC Adv., 2015,5, 40000-40006

Author version available

Enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity of Ag2O/g-C3N4 p–n heterojunctions synthesized via a photochemical route for degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride

S. Ma, J. Xue, Y. Zhou and Z. Zhang, RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 40000 DOI: 10.1039/C5RA04075B

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements