The photocatalytic performance of the ZnO/g-C3N4 composite photocatalyst toward degradation of organic pollutants and its inactivity toward hydrogen evolution: The influence of light irradiation and charge transfer

Abstract

In the present work, ZnO/g-C3N4 photocatalysts were synthesized via a simple calcination method. The physical properties of the obtained ZnO/g-C3N4 nanocomposites were characterized by various physicochemical techniques. The photocatalytic activity of the photocatalysts was investigated by the degradation of methyl orange (MO) and 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) under visible light irradiation. Especially, the photocatalytic efficiency was the highest when the percentage of ZnO was 10%. However, an increase of the photocatalytic activities was related to the interfacial transfer of photogenerated electrons and holes, leading to the effective charge separation. More importantly, the nanocomposite showed no activity toward hydrogen.