g-C3N4/CoNiFe-LDH Z-scheme heterojunction for efficient CO2 photoreduction and MB dye photodegradation

The development of efficient and stable photocatalysts to solve environmental issues is essential and remains a big challenge. In this work, flower-like CoNiFe-LDH is deposited in situ on g-C3N4 nanosheets, successfully constructing a Z-scheme heterojunction CoNiFe-LDH/g-C3N4 photocatalyst for the photoreduction of CO2 and photodegradation of MB dye. The synthesized nanohybrid shows superior photocatalytic CO2 performance (42.04 mu mol g(-1) h(-1)) and fast photodegradation MB performance (0.1057 min(-1)). The improved photocatalytic performance was attributed to the formation of the Z-scheme heterojunction with matched energy bands, and the intimate heterojunction contact interface, which significantly enhanced the interfacial charge transfer rate and improved the separation efficiency of electron-hole pairs. Moreover, the photocatalytic mechanism was proposed based on PL, photocurrent responses, EIS, and EPR experiments. This work can shed light on further application for environmental problems of Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalysts.