Pompon-like structured g-C3N4/ZnO composites and their application in visible light photocatalysis.

In this work, pompon-like structured g-C₃N₄/ZnO composite photocatalyst was fabricated by a two-step method and characterized through different characterization tools to determine the photophysical properties. It is discovered that the synthesized pompon-like g-C₃N₄/ZnO photocatalyst is composed of flake g-C₃N₄ coated on the pompon surface of ZnO to form a heterojunction structure. In the composite photocatalyst, the pompon ZnO has large surface area (41.81 m²/g) which can provide more reactive sites for composite catalysts, the g-C₃N₄ can absorb the visible light which can effectively expand the absorption range of the composite, and the heterostructure formed between g-C₃N₄ and pompon ZnO can effectively reduce the coincidence efficiency of photo-generated carriers. The photocatalytic performance of pompon-like g-C₃N₄/ZnO photocatalyst was evaluated by photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) organic dyes under simulated solar light irradiation and the optimum doping amount of g-C₃N₄ is 10%. The stability of the composite photocatalyst was tested by five runs of RhB photodegradation under simulated visible light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]