Design and fabrication of Ag3VO4/g-C3N4 heterostructure photocatalyst for enhanced visible light degradation of various organic pollutants

In later years, numerous viable photocatalysts have been created to illuminate the issues of natural toxins. In this work, heterostructured photocatalysts Ag3VO4/g-C3N4 were prepared by effortless hydrothermal route to anchor Ag3VO4 on the surface of the g-C3N4 nanosheets. The prepared samples were fairly characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Energy dispersive analysis of X-rays (EDAX), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-DRS), photoluminescence, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques. The photocatalytic activity of the samples was evaluated by degrading malachite green (MG) and 2,4 dimethyl phenol (DMP) in aqueous solution under visible light irradiation. Compared with Ag3VO4 and g-C3N4, the heterojuncted photocatalyst 50 wt% Ag3VO4/g-C3N4 exhibits the best activity such as high-degradation efficiency (99%), high apparent constant (0.0923 min−1) and long-term stability towards DMP under visible light irradiation. The development of a phase scheme heterojunction between Ag3VO4 and g-C3N4 improved the photocatalytic efficiency of Ag3VO4/g-C3N4 composites. Furthermore, the porous structure of g-C3N4 and the effect of Ag surface plasmon resonance (SPR) speed up the isolation and transfer of electron–hole pairs, reducing the likelihood of recombination.