Deng Guab,
Yuanjin Wanga,
Zhiman Lianga,
Yanting Doua,
Zhenhe Xu*a,
Jiqi Zheng*a,
Yaguang Sunb,
Fu Ding*b and
Yu Gao*a
aCollege of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Dalian University, Dalian 116622, China. E-mail: xuzh@syuct.edu.cn; jiqizheng@yeah.net; gaoy777@126.com
bKey Laboratory of Inorganic Molecule-Based Chemistry of Liaoning Province, Shenyang University of Chemical Technology, Shenyang, 110142, China. E-mail: dingfu@syuct.edu.cn
First published on 19th May 2023
The construction of a heterojunction and the introduction of a cocatalyst can both promote the transfer of photogenerated electrons, which are effective strategies to enhance photocatalytic efficiency. In this paper, a ternary RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH composite was synthesized by constructing a g-C3N4/LaCO3OH heterojunction and introducing a non-noble metal cocatalyst RGO through hydrothermal reactions. TEM, XRD, XPS, UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, photo-electrochemistry and PL tests were carried out to characterize the structures, morphologies and carrier separation efficiencies of products. Benefiting from the boosted visible light absorption capability, reduced charge transfer resistance and facilitated photogenerated carrier separation, the visible light photocatalytic activity of the ternary RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH composite was effectively improved, resulting in a much increased MO (methyl orange) degradation rate of 0.0326 min−1 compared with LaCO3OH (0.0003 min−1) and g-C3N4 (0.0083 min−1). Moreover, by combining the results of the active species trapping experiment with the bandgap structure of each component, the mechanism of the MO photodegradation process was proposed.
LaCO3OH is a rare earth hydroxyl carbonate with an excellent luminescence property, showing a great potential in photocatalytic pollutants degradation and H2 evolution.12,13 LaCO3OH has a relatively broad bandgap of 4.0 eV, which could inhibit the recombination of photogenerated carriers.14 On the other side, as a result of the broad bandgap, it can only absorb ultraviolet light in photocatalytic reactions. Based on recent research, the visible light absorption capability of LaCO3OH can be boosted by constructing heterojunction.15 Under visible light irradiation, pure LaCO3OH showed a negligible photocatalytic activity, while heterostructured g-C3N4/LaCO3OH synthesized through a one-step hydrothermal reaction exhibited a substantially enhanced NO removal ratio of 30.3% after 30 min.16 g-C3N4, a kind of semiconductor photocatalyst, has drawn wide attention in vast fields because of its visible light response and layered structure, which can provide rich surface chemistry and shorten the electron transfer pathways.17 While there are only few reports about g-C3N4/LaCO3OH heterojunction as the catalyst for the photodegradation of organic dyes at present. Wang et al.13 synthesized a g-C3N4/LaCO3OH heterostructure for photocatalytic NO removal, which showed an improved NO removal ratio of 30.3% compared with pristine g-C3N4 (19.3%) after 30 min visible light irradiation. Similar composite also shown considerable improvement in N2 photofixation (8.2 mM g−1 h−1) compared to g-C3N4 (2.1 mM g−1 h−1).18 While there is still no report about the application of g-C3N4/LaCO3OH heterojunction in the photodegradation of dyes. The introduction of cocatalyst such as noble metal (Pt19 and Ag20), non-noble metal (Ni21) and non-metal material such as graphene oxide (GO) can restrain the recombination of photogenerated carriers and enhance visible light absorption capacity.22 Among all these cocatalysts, GO has fascinating properties including good conductivity, high carrier mobility and large exposed specific surface, which can provide abundant active sites for the photocatalytic process.23 Therefore, for the first time, we proposed to introduce reduced graphene oxide (RGO) into g-C3N4/LaCO3OH heterojunction and result in a heterostructured ternary composite for photocatalytic degradation of the organic dye. Benefitting from the extended light absorption in visible light region along with accelerated separation kinetics of charge carriers, the constructed RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH composite can serve as the catalyst for the photodegradation of methyl orange (MO) under visible light irradiation with a superior performance than each component.
Herein, ternary composite RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH heterojunction was synthesized through hydrothermal reactions and its photocatalytic activity was evaluated by using it as the catalyst in the degradation of MO under visible light irradiation. The photocatalysis mechanism was investigated and the migration pathway of photogenerated carriers was proposed. This work is excepted to provide a novel strategy to enhance the photocatalytic activity of rare-earth based semiconductors with broad bandgaps for the photodegradation of organic dyes.
g-C3N4 was synthesized through the method in the literature.24 10.0 g urea was calcined at 250 °C for 1 h, then 350 °C for 2 h and 550 °C for another 2 h in a tube furnace. The obtained pale yellow powder was washed with distilled water then dried at 60 °C for 12 h.
X wt% g-C3N4/LaCO3OH (X represents the mass ratio of g-C3N4, X = 15.0, 25.0, 35.0) was synthesized through a hydrothermal reaction. For 15.0 wt% g-C3N4/LaCO3OH, 50.0 mg g-C3N4 and 671.6 mg La(NO3)3·6H2O were dispersed in 35 mL distilled water and stirred for 3 h. After adjusting pH to 8.0–8.5 using 0.1 M NaOH aqueous solution, the obtained suspension was transferred to 100 mL autoclave and heated at 160 °C for 6 h. After washed with distilled water for 3 times, the product was dried at 60 °C for 12 h. Pure LaCO3OH was also produced via a reported method for comparison.14
RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH was obtained through a hydrothermal reaction using g-C3N4/LaCO3OH and GO as raw materials, as shown in Scheme 1, and the latter was produced by the Hummers' method.10 For Y wt% RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH (Y represents the mass ratio of RGO, X = 0.6, 0.8, 1.0), 50.0 mg 25.0 wt% g-C3N4/LaCO3OH was dispersed in 35.0 mL distilled water, in which 400.0 μL GO suspension (1.0 mg mL−1) was added. The obtained mixture was heated at 160 °C for 6 h in an autoclave, and the product was washed and dried in the same way as the synthesis of g-C3N4/LaCO3OH sample.
XPS spectra are used to further study the constitution and surface chemical states of the products. In the survey spectrum of RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH (Fig. 2A), La, C, O and N elements can be identified, which is in accordance with the results of EDS. As shown in Fig. 2B, the spectrum of La 3d can be divided into two pairs of peaks. Peaks at 851.9 and 835.1 eV can be assigned to La 3d3/2 and 3d5/2 of La3+, respectively, and peaks at 855.5 and 838.5 eV are two corresponding shakeup satellite peaks.14 C 1s spectrum of RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH can be fitted into five peaks considering three different sources (Fig. 2C). Peaks at 286.4, 285.1 and 286.4 eV can be indexed to O–C–O, C–OH and C–C in RGO, respectively. Peaks at 289.2 and 288.3 eV stem from CO32− in LaCO3OH and N–CN in g-C3N4, respectively. Compared with g-C3N4, the binding energy of N–CN in RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH increased by 0.3 eV because of the electron transfer at the interfaces of the composite.6 For N 1s spectrum, peaks at 400.8, 399.4 and 398.5 eV are attributed to C–N–H (or C–NH2), N–C and NC–N in g-C3N4, respectively (Fig. 2D).17 The groups such as –OH and –NH2 can provide abundant active sites for the photodegradation of MO.
UV-vis spectra of LaCO3OH and g-C3N4 were measured to evaluate their band gap structures (Fig. 3A). The light absorption edge of g-C3N4 is 460 nm, indicating its small bandgap and good response to the visible light. While LaCO3OH exhibits a light absorption edge of 300 nm, demonstrating its large bandgap along with poor visible light absorption capability. For g-C3N4/LaCO3OH and RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH, light absorption edges are located at 475 and 500 nm respectively, indicating the improved visible light absorption capability benefiting from the construction of heterojunction and the introduction of cocatalyst RGO. The band gaps Eg (eV) of LaCO3OH and g-C3N4 can be calculated based on the Kubelka–Munk function:
αħv = A(ħv − Eg)n/2 | (1) |
ECB = ECB − Eg | (2) |
Fig. 3 (A) The UV-vis spectra of LaCO3OH, g-C3N4, g-C3N4/LaCO3OH and RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH; (B) the bandgap energy diagram and the valence band (XPS) spectra of the (C) LaCO3OH and (D) g-C3N4. |
The photocatalytic performance of the obtained heterostructured products were assessed by the photodegradation of MO under the visible light irradiation. After 50 min, the degradation of MO without catalysts is negligible, as shown in Fig. 4A. For pure LaCO3OH, the photodegradation activity is low with a MO removal ratio of only 6.8% after 50 min because of its poor visible light absorption capability, which is proved by its UV-vis spectrum. Constructing g-C3N4/LaCO3OH heterojunction can significantly improve the MO removal ratio. Among the composites with different mass ratios of g-C3N4, 25% g-C3N4/LaCO3OH exhibited the highest activity with a calculated photodegradation rate constant of 0.0150 min−1 (Fig. 4B), which is 50.0 and 1.8 times higher than LaCO3OH and g-C3N4 respectively. Such results confirmed that the construction of heterojunction could be conducive to the improvement of photocatalytic activity compared with each component.
Whereas, though the MO removal ratio has been effectively improved, the photodegradation of MO only 51.2%. To further improve the activity of the photocatalyst and shorten the reaction time, RGO was introduced into the composite as the cocatalyst. Photocatalytic performances of ternary RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH composite with different mass ratios of RGO is shown in Fig. 4C. Though RGO itself shows no activity in the photodegradation of MO as expected, the introduction of RGO into 25% g-C3N4/LaCO3OH can still further enhance its photocatalytic performance. When the reaction time decreased to 50 min, the MO removal ratio of 0.8% RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH can be remarkably improved to 84.5%, which is the highest among ternary composites with different mass ratios, and is much improved compared with 25% g-C3N4/LaCO3OH (51.2%). The corresponding photodegradation rate constant of 0.8% RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH is 0.0326 min−1, which is 2.17 times higher than that of 25% g-C3N4/LaCO3OH (Fig. 4D). Such improvement arises from the introduction of cocatalyst RGO, which can serve as the transfer medium for the photogenerated carriers, thus can accelerate their transfer kinetics and restrain their recombination, leading to an increased rate of photocatalytic reaction.
The high stability of ternary RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH composite was clarified by the cycling test carried out using 0.8% RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH as the catalyst. As shown in Fig. 4E, the rate constant remains basically stable during 20 cycles. The slight decrease was generated by the sample loss during the washing and drying process after each cycle. TEM images shows that after the long-time cycling, there is no obvious change in the microstructure of the RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH composite, confirming its high structural stability (Fig. S2†). Moreover, the active species trapping experiment was taken to analyze the active species during the photocatalytic degradation process (Fig. 4F). There is no significant change on MO removal ratio with the existence of t-BuOH, demonstrating that ˙OH radical does not involved in the photodegradation reaction. While with the addition of 1,4-benzoquinone (BQ) and Na2EDTA, the MO removal ratio declined from 84.5% to 45.6% and 52.9% respectively, indicating that both active species ˙O2− and h+ play a critical role in the photodegradation process. The above characterizations show that compared with single components, RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH exhibits an enhanced photocatalytic activity for MO degradation, which is owing to the construction of heterojunction and the introduction of cocatalyst RGO.
More photoelectrochemical characterizations including EIS tests, transient photocurrent responses and PL spectroscopy were performed to study the separation efficiency of photogenerated charge carriers. The Nyquist plots (Fig. 5A) demonstrates that 0.8% RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH has the smallest semicircle radius in the high-frequency region compared with that of g-C3N4/LaCO3OH, g-C3N4 and LaCO3OH, indicating its lowest charge transfer resistance benefited from the construction of the heterojunction and the introduction of RGO, leading to the highest separation efficiency of photogenerated electron–hole pairs.26 Transient photocurrent curves during five on/off cycles are shown in Fig. 5B. 0.8% RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH generates a stable and highest photocurrent of 1.52 μA cm−2, which is 1.78 and 4 times higher compared with 25% g-C3N4/LaCO3OH (0.85 μA cm−2) and g-C3N4 (0.38 μA cm−2), indicating the heterostructured ternary composite can effectively accelerate the charge transfer process. In PL spectra, the lower PL intensity means the lower recombination rate and longer lifetime of the photogenerated carriers.27 As shown in Fig. 5C, compared with g-C3N4 and 25% g-C3N4/LaCO3OH, the PL intensity of 0.8% RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH is much lower, confirming that cocatalyst RGO plays an important role in the restriction of photogenerated carriers' recombination. Overall, the synergistic effect of heterostructure and cocatalyst RGO endows RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH composite an improved photocatalytic activity by reducing the charge transfer resistance, facilitating the separation of charge carries and lowering their recombination rate.
Fig. 5 (A) The Nyquist plots of RGO, g-C3N4, LaCO3OH and RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH in the frequency range from 106 Hz to 0.1 Hz; (B) transient photocurrent responses and (C) the PL spectra. |
According to above characterizations, the mechanism of the MO photodegradation process using RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH composite as the catalyst was proposed, as shown in Fig. 6. With the irradiation of visible light, g-C3N4 with a smaller bandgap of 2.75 eV can be excited and produce photogenerated electrons and holes, while LaCO3OH does not response to visible light due to its large bandgap (4.02 eV). The electrons generated on the VB of g-C3N4 (1.58 eV) can be excited and separate with holes, then transfer to the CB of g-C3N4 (−1.17 eV). As g-C3N4 has a more negative CB compared with LaCO3OH (−0.47 eV), the photogenerated electrons will transfer to the CB of LaCO3OH driven by the interfacial electric field force, thus the recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes can be retarded. The introduction of RGO as cocatalyst can not only enhance the light absorption efficiency but also provide abundant active sites for the photocatalytic reaction because of the enlarged surface area and facilitated charge transfer kinetics of RGO. The main reactions in the photodegradation process of MO are as follows:
g-C3N4 + ħv → g-C3N4 (h+) + LaCO3OH/g-C3N4 (e−) |
LaCO3OH/g-C3N4 (e−) + ħv → 2D-RGO (e−) |
LaCO3OH/g-C3N4 (e−) + 2D-RGO (e−) + O2 → (˙O2−) |
(˙O2−) + MO → CO2 + H2O |
g-C3N4 (h+) + MO → CO2 + H2O |
Fig. 6 The schematic of the proposed mechanism of RGO/g-C3N4/LaCO3OH composites for MO photodegradation under visible light irradiation. |
During this process, NN bond of MO was broken under the attack of generated radicals, and aromatic hydrocarbons such as 4-amino-N,N-dimethylaniline and 4-diazenyl-N,N-dimethyl benzenamine were produced. Then the aromatic rings were continuously opened under the attack of reactive oxygen species and converted into carbon dioxide and water eventually.28–30
Footnote |
† Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/d3ra02415f |
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2023 |