Rational construction of Z-scheme Ag2CrO4/g-C3N4 composites with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity

Novel visible-light driven Z-scheme Ag2CrO4/g-C3N4 composites with different contents of Ag2CrO4 were fabricated by a facile chemical precipitation method and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS), photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and photoelectrochemical measurements. Compared with individual g-C3N4 and Ag2CrO4, the Ag2CrO4/g-C3N4 composites displayed much larger photocatalytic activities for the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO) solution at room temperature under visible light irradiation (lambda >420 nm). Importantly, the optimum photodegradation rate constant of the Ag2CrO4/g-C3N4 composite at a theoretical weight content of 8.0% Ag2CrO4 for the photodegradation of MO was 0.0068 min(-1), which was 5.7 and 4.3 times higher than that of pure g-C3N4 and Ag2CrO4, respectively. Such enormous enhancement in photocatalytic performance was predominantly ascribed to the efficient separation and transfer of photo generated electrons and holes at the Ag2CrO4/g-C3N4 interface imparted through the Z-scheme electron transfer. Furthermore, radical trap experiments depicted that both the holes and superoxide radical anions were thought to dominate oxidative species of the Ag2CrO4/g-C3N4 composite for MO degradation under visible light irradiation. Ultimately, a tentative Z-scheme photodegradation mechanism was proposed. This work may be useful for the rational design of new types of Z-scheme photocatalysts and provide some illuminate insights into the Z-scheme transfer mechanism for application in energy conversion and environmental remediation. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.