Facial synthesis of a novel Ag₄V₂O₇/g‐C₃N₄ heterostructure with highly efficient photoactivity

Abstract

A novel Ag 4 V 2 O 7 /g-C 3 N 4 heterostructure was synthesized by a facial etching method in ammonia solution using Ag 2 VO 2 PO 4 /g-C 3 N 4 as a self-sacrifice precursor. With the concentration of ammonia solution increasing from 0.05 to 0.2 M, phase transformation took place, described as: exhibited dramatically improved activity for the degradation of methylene blue (MB), methyl orange (MO) and imidacloprid under visible light irradiation. When etched with 0.15 M ammonia solution, an Ag 4 V 2 O 7 /g-C 3 N 4 heterostructure was obtained that exhibited the highest photoactivity. This photocatalyst was nearly 9.1, 3.0, and 24.3 times more efficient than pristine Ag 2 VO 2 PO 4 /g-C 3 N 4 for degradation of MB, MO and imidacloprid, respectively.The excellent photocatalytic performance can be ascribed to the as-obtained welldefined Ag 4 V 2 O 7 /g-C 3 N 4 heterojunction, which improves the separation and transfer efficiency and prolongs the lifetime of photoinduced charges. In addition, the stability and dominant radicals were investigated.

The roles and mechanism of cocatalysts in photocatalytic water splitting to produce hydrogen

“…Most cocatalysts can not only serve as electron sinks, but also provide proton reduction sites [85,86]. (4) Cocatalysts can improve the stability of the photocatalysts. Some metal sulfides can be oxidized easily.…”

“…Due to the world's heavy reliance on non-renewable, geopolitically sensitive energy sources such as natural gas and coal, coupled with the violent fluctuations in crude oil prices, ensuring alternative clean and renewable energy supplies has never been such urgent [1][2][3][4][5][6]. The world's primary energy consumption increased by 2.9% in 2018, which is the highest annual growth rate since 2010, almost double of the average annual growth rate in the last 10 years.…”

Enhancement of Bifunctional Catalytic Performance of G‐C3N4@ Ag Composite by NaBH4 Etching

“…[26,27] At present, chemical etching as a simple method was often used in the modification of semiconductor materials to improve their performance. [28][29][30][31][32] In this study, we first synthesized a kind of composite of g-C 3 N 4 and Ag nanoparticles (g-C 3 N 4 @Ag) by a one-pot route, in which Ag nanoparticles and g-C 3 N 4 can be considered as mutual supporters. Then the as-synthesized g-C 3 N 4 @Ag composite was further treated by sodium borohydride solution.…”