Synergistic enhancement in photocatalytic degradation of α-Fe2O3–g-C3N4 due to an increase in visible-light absorption efficiency and rapid photoinduced charge separation.

A new V 2 O 5 /g-C 3 N 4 nanocomposite was synthesized via wet impregnation method using V 2 O 5 and g-C 3 N 4 , obtained from citric acid and urea. The phase purity, crystallite size and strain were ascertained by powder x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Further, the synthesized photocatalysts were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDAX), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), UV-vis diffuse reflection 10 spectroscopy (DRS) and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). The efficiency of the photocatalysts was evaluated from the photodegradation of direct red 81 (DR81), a target textile pollutant, under visible light irradiation. The photocatalytic experiments demonstrated that the V 2 O 5 /g-C 3 N 4 composites showed much better photocatalytic degradability of DR81 than bulk V 2 O 5 and g-C 3 N 4 , when used individually. The enhancement of photocatalytic degradation is attributed to the efficient charge carrier separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. PL and electrochemical impedance spectroscopic (EIS) results also support the above statement. 15 Different mole% ratios (1, 2 and 3%) of V 2 O 5 loaded composites have been prepared and 1% loaded composite was found to show optimal efficiency. A possible mechanism has been proposed for the photocatalytic degradation using V 2 O 5 /g-C 3 N 4 . 65 photocatalysts were characterized by powder XRD, FT-IR, SEM, EDAX, DRS and PL studies. The photoelectrochemical and photoctalytic activities were evaluated for the photodegradation of DR81 under visible light irradiation. Direct red 81 (DR81) was chosen for this study due to its harmful nature. DR81 is 70 commonly used in textiles, leather, plastics and cosmetics industries to colour their products. The textile industry effluent carries large volume of wastewater with colored dyes and other additives which are highly toxic to the environment. A possible mechanism for the photodegradation process over V 2 O 5 /g-C 3 N 4 75 composite has been proposed. Experimental section Materials

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