Self-assembly of porous g-C3N4 and montmorillonite: characterization, performance test, and mechanism analysis

• Published in: Journal of materials science. Materials in electronics Vol. 33; no. 7; pp. 3631 - 3647
• Main Authors: Bai, Yihong, Chen, Mingyan, Liu, Yucheng, Zhou, Ying, Gan, Dong, Tu, Wenwen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.03.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Carbon; Carbon nitride; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Composite materials; Dyes; Materials Science; Montmorillonite; Optical and Electronic Materials; Performance tests; Photocatalysis; Photodegradation; Photoluminescence; Regeneration; Rhodamine; Self-assembly; Spectrum analysis; Surface area
• ISSN: 0957-4522; 1573-482X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10854-021-07556-0

Montmorillonite is successfully attached to the surface of porous graphitic carbon nitride by electrostatic self-assembly method, so that the composite photocatalyst has larger specific surface area and rich pore structure. Through a series of characterization methods such as surface area measurement (BET), photoluminescence spectra, and UV–vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy, it is confirmed that the introduction of montmorillonite is conducive to the separation of photogenerated carriers and holes in graphitic carbon nitride. The photocatalytic degradation of 20 ppm rhodamine B by composite materials only takes 90 min, and it shows the ability to degrade high concentration rhodamine B. After four cycles of regeneration, the degradation rate of rhodamine B by composite materials is still 95.4%. After the combination of porous graphitic carbon nitride and montmorillonite with electrostatic self-assembly, it has the ability to degradation of high concentration dyes, which provides a development idea for the practical application of photocatalytic technology in the field of dye degradation.