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. 2023 Jan 28;13(3):518.
doi: 10.3390/nano13030518.

B-Doped g-C3N4/Black TiO2 Z-Scheme Nanocomposites for Enhanced Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalytic Performance

Yuwei Wang  1 , Kelin Xu  1 , Liquan Fan  1 , Yongwang Jiang  1 , Ying Yue  1 , Hongge Jia  1
Affiliations

B-Doped g-C3N4/Black TiO2 Z-Scheme Nanocomposites for Enhanced Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalytic Performance

Yuwei Wang et al. Nanomaterials (Basel). .

Abstract

Black TiO2 with abundant oxygen vacancies (OVs)/B-doped graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) Z-scheme heterojunction nanocomposites are successfully prepared by the one-pot strategy. The OVs can improve not only photogenerated carrier separation, but also the sorption and activation of antibiotic compounds (tetracycline hydrochloride, TC). The prepared heterojunction photocatalysts with a narrow bandgap of ∼2.13 eV exhibit excellent photocatalytic activity for the degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride (65%) under visible light irradiation within 30 min, which is several times higher than that of the pristine one. The outstanding photocatalytic property can be ascribed to abundant OVs and B element-dope reducing the bandgap and extending the photo-response to the visible light region, the Z-scheme formation of heterojunctions preventing the recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes, and promoting their effective separation.

Keywords: B-doped g-C3N4; Z-scheme heterojunction; black TiO2; oxygen vacancy defect; photocatalysis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Scheme 1
Scheme 1
Schematic illustration for synthesis of the black TiO2/B-doped g-C3N4 (BCBT).
Figure 1
Figure 1
The XRD patterns of BCBT photocatalysts (TiO2 in blue, C3N4 in red) (a) and FT-IR spectra of all prepared photocatalysts (b).
Figure 2
Figure 2
SEM (a) and TEM (f) images of BCBT; (b–e) EDX elemental mappings of C, N, O, and Ti.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The XPS spectra of BT, BCB, and BCBT: (a) survey spectrum of BCT; (b) Ti 2p and (d) O 1 s of BT and BCBT; and (c) B 1 s spectra of BCN and BCBT.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra of the as-prepared BT, BCN, and BCBT. (b) Relationship of (ahν) 1/2 vs. E (ev).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Photocatalytic degradation efficiencies on the degradation of TC under simulated solar light irradiation (a), and kinetic linear simulation curves (b), photocurrent curves (c), and PL spectra (d) of BT, BCN, and BCBT, respectively.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Recycling experiments (a), Mott–Schottky plots (b) of BCBT, and the presented mechanism (c) for photocatalytic TC elimination by BCBT photocatalyst.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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