Visible-light Driven C3N4 Photocatalysts Prepared by a Thermal Decomposition Process

The C3N4 was synthesized by directly thermal decomposition melamine in N-2 atmosphere furnace. The products were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). The results show that C3N4 indicates the typical slate-like, stacked lamellar texture of about 1 mu m in diameter, and a band gap of about 2.78 eV. The photocatalytic experiment shows the good photocatalytic activity for the decomposition of methyl orange (MO) under visible-light irradiation, which is attributed to the strong visible-light absorption.