Polymeric graphitic carbon nitride layers decorated with erbium oxide and enhanced photocatalytic performance under visible light irradiation.

Abstract

Developing and implementing visible light active organic-inorganic hybrid semiconductor nanomaterials with enhanced photocatalytic properties find newer environmental and energy treatment capabilities. Here, we are reporting polymeric g-C3N4 layers coated with different propositions of erbium oxide nanoparticles, characterized using XPS, UV-Vis-DRS, FT-IR, HR-TEM, FE-SEM, elemental mapping, XRD and surface area techniques and its photocatalytic activities were evaluated under visible light irradiations. The hybrid nanocomposite materials possess better crystalline nature and erbium oxide particles were on the surface of polymeric g-C3N4. The surface area and bandgap energy of the polymeric g-C3N4-erbium oxide (5 wt%) nanohybrid composite were 99.9 m2/g and 2.52eV. The photocatalytic activities as prepared nanohybrid composites were assessed for the oxidation of orange G dye molecules in the presence of visible light and were highly active in a broader range of pH with the presence of various inorganic anions. The rate of photocatalytic oxidation of dye molecules varied from 4.79 × 10-4 to 1.77 × 10-4min-1 for the initial concentration of 5 to 20ppm and retained its activities above 95% up to three cycles of reusability. Hence, the organic-inorganic novel catalytic nanohybrid composite may find more comprehensive applications in the area of environmental and energy applications.