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Enhanced photocatalytic efficiency of C3N4/BiFeO3heterojunctions: the synergistic effects of band alignment and ferroelectricity
- Source :
- Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. 20:3648-3657
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), 2018.
-
Abstract
- As one of the most promising photocatalysts, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) shows a visible light response and great chemical stability. However, its relatively low photocatalytic efficiency is a major obstacle to actual applications. Here an effective and feasible method to dramatically increase the visible light photocatalytic efficiency by forming C3N4/BiFeO3 ferroelectric heterojunctions is reported, wherein the band alignment and piezo-/ferroelectricity have synergistic positive effects in accelerating the separation of the photogenerated carriers. At the optimum composition of 10 wt% BiFeO3, the heterojunction shows 1.4 times improved photocatalytic efficiency than that of the pure C3N4. Most importantly, mechanical pressing and electrical poling can also improve the photocatalytic efficiencies by 1.3 times and 1.8 times, respectively. The optimized photocatalytic efficiency is even comparable with that of some noble metal based compounds. These results not only prove the improved photocatalytic activity of the C3N4-ferroelectric heterojunctions, but also provide a new approach for designing high-performance photocatalysts by taking advantage of ferroelectricity.
- Subjects :
- Materials science
business.industry
Poling
Graphitic carbon nitride
General Physics and Astronomy
Heterojunction
02 engineering and technology
engineering.material
010402 general chemistry
021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology
01 natural sciences
Ferroelectricity
0104 chemical sciences
chemistry.chemical_compound
chemistry
Photocatalysis
engineering
Optoelectronics
Noble metal
Chemical stability
Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
0210 nano-technology
business
Visible spectrum
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14639084 and 14639076
- Volume :
- 20
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........60e67265ba096dc39f4e9c5a0684def4