Synthesis and photocatalytic application of trinary structural g-C3N4/Ag/Ag3PO4 composite nanomaterials

Trinary g-C3N4/Ag/Ag3PO4 heterostructures with different Ag content were designed and synthesized by in situ deposition and reduction routes. The photocatalytic performances of these heterostructures were investigated under visible light (lambda > 450 nm) and simulated sunlight. Moreover, the influence of Ag content and ratio of each component on the photocatalytic performance of g-C3N4/Ag/Ag3PO4 was also studied. As a result, the photocatalytic activities of all these g-C3N4/Ag/Ag3PO4 samples were higher than commercial P25 (TiO2). Moreover, sample S1 (the ratio of g-C(3)N4, Ag3PO4 and Ag is 1: 2.52: 0.12) showed the better photocatalytic activities than other g-C(3)N4/Ag/Ag3PO4 samples (S2 and S3) and g-C3N4/Ag(3)PO4 (1: 3) under the same light irradiation. It indicated that small amount of Ag nanoparticles could improve the photocatalytic performances by compared with g-C3N4/Ag3PO(4) sample. And S1 showed a stable photodegradation after 6 times of cycle experiments under simulated sunlight. The stable and significant superior photocatalytic performance of g-C3N4/ Ag/Ag3PO4 could be attributed to the fast charge separation among g-C3N4, Ag and Ag3PO4 during the Z-scheme charge transfer and recombination process.