Hydrothermal fabrication of α-SnWO4/g-C3N4 heterostructure with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity

The novel alpha-SnWO4/g-C3N4 composites have been successfully synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method. The crystalline structure, physicochemical property and morphology of the as-prepared samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, UV-vis and PL. Compared to the pristine alpha-SnWO4 and g-C3N4, the alpha-SnWO4/g-C3N4 heterostructure exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity toward the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light irradiation, which can be attributed to the effective electrons/holes transfer and separation, due to the heterojunction formed between alpha-SnWO4 and g-C3N4. Moreover, the alpha-SnWO4/g-C3N4 demonstrated good recyclability properties which were beneficial for its practical application. The photocatalytic mechanism of the alpha-SnWO4/g-C3N4 was also discussed.