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The film-forming ability and conductivity of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) are still unsatisfying, despite much progress having been made in g-C3N4-related photocatalysts. New methods for synthesizing g-C3N4 films coupled with excellent conductive materials are of significance. Herein, a facile method for synthesizing novel carbonized polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)/g-C3N4 (CPVP/g-C3N4) films have been developed through an electrospinning technique. Nanocarbons are generated by in situ carbonization of PVP in the films, which could enhance the photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance of the films due to its good conductivity. The coverage of the CPVP/g-C3N4 film is good and the films exhibit excellent PEC performance. Furthermore, the thickness of the films can be adjusted by varying the electrospinning time and substantially controlling the PEC performance, of which the photocurrent densities under visible-light irradiation are 3.55, 4.92, and 6.64 μA cm−2 with spinning times of 40, 70, and 120 min, respectively. The photocurrent does not decrease until testing at 4000 s and the coverage is still good after the tests, which indicates the good stability of the films. The excellent PEC performance of the films and facile preparation method enables promising applications in energy and environmental remediation areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Abstract Co 3 O 4 /BiVO 4 (Co/BiV) based nanostructured photoanode films were fabricated by simple facile electrospinning method and were characterized by a variety of techniques. It was found that the films have web-linked structure, composed of BiVO 4 and Co 3 O 4 nanostructures. The photoanode was used for the photoelectrochemical (PEC) degradation of bisphenol-A (BPA) by illumination at 0.25 V vs. SCE assisted by 1 mM peroxymonosulfate (PMS). The removal percentage of BPA was enhanced to 96% for the Co/BiV film that was much better than that of BiVO 4 film, which was 48%. The pseudo-first kinetic constants were raised from 0.1126 min−1 to 0.4714 min−1, respectively. The enhanced PEC performance of Co/BiV films can be attributed its p-n heterojunction setup and synergetic contribution of PMS, which efficiently inhibits the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. The free radicals quenching experiment and electron spin resonance suggested that the major reactive oxygen species were photogenerated holes, superoxide radicals and sulfate radicals. These findings demonstrate that PMS assisted Co/BiV films, are good candidates for PEC application in environmental purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]