Design of few-layer carbon nitride/BiFeO3 composites for efficient organic pollutant photodegradation.

Heterojunction-driven photocatalysis can degrade various organic pollutants, and developing carbon nitride-based composite photocatalysts is of great significance and gains growing interest. In this study, a two-dimensional graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets/BiFeO 3 (GCNNs/BiFeO 3) Z-scheme heterojunction has been synthesized through the electrostatic spinning and post-calcination The obtained GCNNs/BiFeO 3 nanofibers show large surface contact between GCNNs the and BiFeO 3 nanostructures. The Z-scheme heterojunction shows a remarkably enhanced photocatalytic performance, which could degrade 94% of tetracycline (TC) and 88% of Rhodamine B (RhB) under LED visible light irradiation in 150 min. Radical trapping experiments demonstrate the effective construction of Z-scheme heterojunctions, and •O 2 − and h+ are the main active species in the photocatalytic degradation process. This study realizes a novel nanostructured GCNNs/BiFeO 3 heterojunction for photodegradation applications, which would guide the design of next-generation efficient photocatalysts. • Ionic liquid modification of bulk C 3 N 4 to obtain GCNNs with improved dispersion. • GCNNs/BiFeO 3 nanofibers Z-scheme heterojunction are constructed by electrospinning. • Large contact area effectively promotes the transfer of photogenerated carriers. • BC-4 could degrade 94% of TC and 88% of RhB under LED visible light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]