Facile synthesis of two clay minerals supported graphitic carbon nitride composites as highly efficient...

To overcome rapid electron-hole recombination and low adsorption capacity of single g-C₃N₄ photocatalyst, the present work reports on the fabrication of two kinds of visible-light-driven composite photocatalysts (g-C₃N₄/kaolinite and g-C₃N₄/illite composites). 2D/2D assembly was successfully achieved in this work. Furthermore, the as-synthesized composites exhibited significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity under visible-light irradiation, whose reaction rate constants were almost 4.13 times (g-C₃N₄/kaolinite) and 3.18 times (g-C₃N₄/illite) that of pure g-C₃N₄. A plausible reaction mechanism over the as-prepared composite photocatalysts was also proposed based on the experimental results obtained. The photocatalytic enhancement of synthesized composites should be attributed to the intimate interface contact between g-C₃N₄ and layered minerals, resulting in better dispersion performance, higher charge separation efficiency as well as stronger adsorption ability.