Strategically fabricated Ag loaded Fe-g-C3N4 nanosheet for photocatalytic removal of aqueous organic pollutant

Abstract

The efficiency of the photocatalyst towards the degradation of organic pollutants depends on the harvesting of the visible light and inhibiting the recombination rate of electron-hole pairs to create a large number of charge carriers to drive the redox reaction. Most charge carriers recombine in 2D photocatalyst like g-C3N4 through the bulk process within the stacked layered structure. The recombination through bulk can be suppressed through nanosheet formation, while surface recombination can be inhibited via fast interfacial photogenerated charge transfer. In the present work, Ag-loaded Fe-doped g-C3N4 nanosheet (Ag/Fe-g-C3N4 NS) photocatalyst was synthesized by combining three effective strategies i.e., Fe doping, nanostructuring, and Ag loading. Various analytical techniques have been employed to characterize all the prepared samples. The results indicate that Fe doping influences visible light absorption by modifying the electronic and optical properties. In contrast, nanosheet formation leads to a significant increment in the number of active sites due to the increased surface area. Ag anchoring over Fe-g-C3N4 NS favors charge separation at the interface of Fe-g-C3N4 and Ag due to the presence of the Schottky barrier. Integration of all the three strategies in Ag/Fe-g-C3N4 NS creates a synergistic effect to add beneficial properties and displays a 5-fold improvement in photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants, as compared to pure g-C3N4. The present study provides a novel and facile approach for realizing an efficient photocatalyst for environmental remediation.