Ternary g-C3N4/Fe3O4/Ag3VO4 nanocomposites: Novel magnetically separable visible-light-driven photocatalysts for efficiently degradation of dye pollutants

Abstract

In this work, novel magnetically separable g-C3N4/Fe3O4/Ag3VO4 nanocomposites were successfully prepared by anchoring Fe3O4 and Ag3VO4 on surface of the g-C3N4 sheets. The prepared samples were fairly characterized using X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive analysis of X-rays, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and vibrating sample magnetometry techniques. Compared with the g-C3N4 and g-C3N4/Fe3O4 samples, the g-C3N4/Fe3O4/Ag3VO4 nanocomposites displayed higher photocatalytic activity for degradation of rhodamine B under visible-light irradiation. Photocatalytic activity of the nanocomposite with 60% of Ag3VO4 was about 14, 8, and 3-fold higher than those of the g-C3N4, g-C3N4/Fe3O4, and Ag3VO4 samples, respectively. Furthermore, influence of refluxing time, calcination temperature, and scavengers of the reactive species on the degradation activity was investigated in detail and the results were discussed. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of the nanocomposites was attributed to efficiently separation of the charge carriers and their increased visible-light harvesting ability.