Synthesis of Fe/g-C3N4 composites with improved visible light photocatalytic activity

Iron doped g-C3N4 materials were prepared via impregnation of melamine into iron nitrate nonahydrate (Fe(NO3)(3) center dot 9H(2)O) solution, evaporation, and subsequent simple thermal condensation. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed that iron was well dispersed in the structure of g-C3N4 composite without changing the graphitic stacking structures. Slight structure defects were observed by using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), which can be ascribed to the aggregation caused by the addition of catalyzed iron. By using UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), enhanced adsorption of light in the region of 450-700 nm was observed, which led to the improved photocatalytic degradation of RhB (Rhodamine B) under visible light irradiation. 99.5% of RhB was degraded within 2 h by using the most effective catalyst with the Fe/g-C3N4 moral ratio value of 0.02. However, pure g-C3N4 was 68.5%, and commercial titanium catalyst P25 was only 29.2%. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.