Carbon Dot Loaded Integrative CoFe2O4/g‐C3N4 P‐N Heterojunction: Direct Solar Light‐Driven Photocatalytic H2 Evolution and Organic Pollutant Degradation

Abstract

AbstractIn this report, the novel carbon dot (CD) loaded CoFe2O4/g‐C3N4 p‐n heterojunction for photocatalytic H2 evolution and tetracycline (TCN) degradation under sunlight irradiation has been proposed. The wet chemical method was used to prepare the photocatalysts. The heterojunction formation between the CoFe2O4 and g‐C3N4 facilitates to improve the solar light absorption ability which was confirmed by UV‐vis‐diffused reflectance spectroscopy. Moreover, the CD loading improves the charge carrier's separation. Comparison with the pure and binary nanocomposite photocatalysts, the CD loaded ternary heterojunction photocatalyst exhibits the greater photocatalytic performance with high H2 production (2715 μmol/g) and TCN degradation (95 %) under sun‐light irradiation. Moreover, the recycling process shows the excellent stability nature of ternary composite photocatalyst. The probable photocatalytic mechanism and the main active radicals for the degradation process were well defined with the help of elemental trapping experiment.