Synergistic Properties of Graphitic Carbon Nitride/Cerium Molybdate Nanocomposites for Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity

摘要

A polymeric semiconductor (g-C_3N_4), based nanocomposites have been achieved much attention due to its excellent thermal, chemical stability and suitable band positions for water splitting. g-C_3N_4 based nanocomposites show good performance in the field of photocatalysis, sensors, Li-ion batteries, supercapacitors and water purification technology. In this work, a series of novel g-C_3N_4/CeM nano composites were synthesized using a facile one-step ultra-sonication method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern confirms the formation of g-C_3N_4 and cerium molybdate. The photocatalytic activity of nanocomposites indicated the substantial degradation of Methylene Blue (MB) dye up to 97% over the surface of g-C_3N_4/CeM under visible light illumination. All the g-C_3N_4/CeM composites possess higher photocatalytic activity than pure cerium molybdate. The proposed mechanism demonstrated that the different weight ratios of photocatalyst were most likely attributed to a synergistic effect between g-C_3N_4 and CeM. This approach is very simple, cost effective, and free from any surfactant that makes it valuable catalyst for various future applications.