Direct Z-scheme photocatalytic removal of ammonia via the narrow band gap BiOCl/g-C3N4 hybrid catalyst upon visible light irradiation

Abstract

In this study, a novel BiOCl/g-C3N4 heterojunction photocatalyst was successfully prepared. The resulting BiOCl/g-C3N4 catalyst can degrade NH3 effectively to N2 under visible-light irradiation. We used BiOCl-modified g-C3N4 nanoparticles to improve the activity of photochemically produced oxygen species. Photocurrent showed excellent photocatalysis performance of BiOCl/g-C3N4. The deposition of BiOCl resulted in a fatal decrease in the surface part and pore volume of the BiOCl/g-C3N4 samples. It was found that the photocurrent density increased with g-C3N4. Experimental results indicate that heterogeneous catalysts achieved 89.7 % degradation under visible light irradiation. The NH3 degradation product was N2 and neither NO2− nor NO3− were detected.