WO3 nanosheets/g-C3N4 nanosheets’ nanocomposite as an effective photocatalyst for degradation of rhodamine B

Abstract

A novel WO3 nanosheets (WO3 NS)/g-C3N4 Nanosheets’ (g-C3N4 NS) nanocomposite photocatalyst was fabricated through a simple calcination process. WO3 NS was first prepared with the aid of P123 lamellar micelles and g-C3N4 NS was synthesized by two-step calcination process. The nanocomposite photocatalyst was characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, UV–Vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and photoluminescence. The novel nanocomposite photocatalyst demonstrated higher photocatalytic activity for rhodamine B degradation than corresponding g-C3N4 NS. 20 wt% WO3 NS/g-C3N4 NS showed the highest photocatalytic performance, which was 4.70 times higher than that of pure g-C3N4 NS. The results confirmed that the incorporation of WO3 NS could definitely accelerate the transfer of photogenerated electrons and effectively promote the separation of electrons and holes, thereby improving the photocatalytic efficiency. The trapping experiments proved that the mechanism of photocatalytic degradation may be rooted in the formation of Z-scheme system.