Facile immobilization of Ag nanoparticles on g-C3N4/V2O5 surface for enhancement of post-illumination, catalytic, and photocatalytic activity removal of organic and inorganic pollutants

Abstract

Multifunctional nanocatalyst that is efficient in removal of organic and inorganic contaminant under different light illumination is highly anticipated. Here, we report a ternary nanocatalyst that has catalytic, photocatalytic and a good photocatalytic memory for oxidation/reduction processes. The ternary nanocatalyst was prepared by the facile immobilization of Ag NPs on the V2O5/g-C3N4 surface by photodeposition method. The morphology of the ternary nanostructure shows the uniform distribution of V2O5 on the g-C3N4 surface decorated with 20–30 nm average diameters of Ag NPs. The prepared catalyst exhibits unique catalytic, photocatalytic and post-oxidation/reduction ability for removal of organic, p-nitrophenol (NP), methylene blue (MB) and inorganic (Cr+6) water pollutants. The catalytic reduction conversion of NP was completed in 60 min was ascribed to the electron relay mechanism, while the photocatalytic hydrogenation of NP was achieved in only 8 min and assigned to the solid Z-scheme electron-hole pair generation facilitated by the good electron storage of Ag NPs. On the other hand, the electron storage memory of the photocatalyst was responsible for the post- oxidation/reduction of MB/Cr+6 respectively. Oxidation of MB increased by 27%, while the Reduction of Cr+6 to Cr+3 was enhanced by 28% after sunlight post-illumination. The proposed ternary nanocatalyst provide an efficient tool for the removal of water pollutants from different sources during the daytime: in presence of sunlight or after the sunset.