Enhanced Photocatalytic Degradation Activity of BiFeO3 Microspheres by Decoration with g-C3N4 Nanoparticles

• Autor(a) principal: Di,Lijing
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Yang,Hua, Xian,Tao, Chen,Xiujuan
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Materials research (São Carlos. Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-14392018000500220
• topic: BiFeO3; g-C3N4 nanoparticles; composite; photocatalysis

In this work, the g-C3N4 nanoparticles decorated BiFeO3 microspheres composites (g-C3N4/BiFeO3) were successfully synthesized by hydrothermal treatment of g-C3N4 nanoparticles together with BiFeO3 microspheres. The SEM and HRTEM observation indicate that the C3N4 nanoparticles with size of 30-50 nm are well decorated on the surface of BiFeO3 microspheres. The photocatalytic activities of the samples are investigated by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under the irradiation of simulated sunlight. The as-prepared g-C3N4/BiFeO3 composites exhibit remarkable enhanced photocatalytic activity compared with bare BiFeO3. More importantly, the photocataltic performance of the composites is further confirmed by the degradation of colorless phenol. Furthermore, the favorable catalytic stability of composites is demonstrated through the recycling photocatalytic experiment. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4/BiFeO3 composites is mainly attributed to the separation of the photogenerated electron-hole pairs, resulting from the migration of the photoinduced charge between g-C3N4 nanoparticles and BiFeO3. A possible photocatalytic mechanism for dye degradation over g-C3N4/BiFeO3 composite is proposed based on the active species trapping experiment, revealing that the photogenerated hole (h+) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) are regarded as the major active species for the decomposition of dye, while hydroxyl radicals (•OH) plays a minor role in the photocatalytic reaction.