Improved photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B by g-C3N4 loaded BiVO4 nanocomposites
Priti Rohilla, Bonamali Pal, Raj Kumar Das
Abstract
Photocatalytic degradation has emerged as one of the most efficient methods to eliminate toxic dyes from wastewater. In this context, graphitic nitride (g-C 3 N 4 ) loaded BiVO 4 nanocomposites (5 wt% g-CN@BiVO 4 and 10 wt% g-CN@BiVO 4 ) have been fabricated by the wet impregnation method, and their efficiency towards photocatalytic removal of rhodamine B have been investigated under visible light irradiation. These hybrid composites have been characterized by XRD, FESEM, HRTEM, EDS-mapping, UV-Vis DRS, DLS, XPS and BET, etc. The HRTEM images revealed that BiVO 4 has a decagonal shape covered by a layered nanosheet-like structure of g-C 3 N 4 . BET measurements suggest increasing the proportion of g-C 3 N 4 results enhancement of the specific surface area. Among different photocatalysts, the 10 wt% g-C 3 N 4 @BiVO 4 hybrid possesses the best catalytic activity with 86% degradation efficiency after 60 min of reaction time. The LC-MS studies suggest that the degradation reactions follow the de-ethylation pathway. Even after five cycles, the heterostructure shows only a 14% decrease in photocatalytic activity, confirming its stability. As a result, the binary composite can be regarded as a promising catalyst for the degradation of pollutants due to its ease of preparation, high stability and superior catalytic activity.