Efficient Fe2O3/C-g-C3N4 Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst prepared by facile one-step carbonizing process

Abstract

Photocatalytic water purification has emerged as new effective ways for an environment preserve and purification in few decades. As a part of studies on photocatalytic water purification, constructing heterojunction structured compounds with different photocatalysts for efficient organic pollutant degradation is regarded as key-strategy. Herein, facile one-step carbonizing process was introduced for synthesizing Fe2O3/C-g-C3N4 based Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst. The two times of photocatalytic organic pollutant degradation rate of Fe2O3/C-g-C3N4 based Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst was enhanced comparing with pristine Fe2O3/g-C3N4 heterojunction photocatalyst through rhodamine B (RhB) degradation under AM 1.5G (100 mWcm−2, 1 sun) illumination. The reasons for enhanced photocatalytic RhB degradation efficiency of Fe2O3/C-g-C3N4 based Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst were revealed to efficient charge transfer during light induced RhB degradation reaction by constructing junction structures among Fe2O3, amorphous carbon layer and g-C3N4, which proved by fluorescence spectroscopy, XPS, SEM, TEM and UV–Vis analysis.