Doping and heterojunction construction dual-regulation: Magnetically recoverable CoFe1.9Y0.1O4/g-C3N4 nanosheets with enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity

• Published in: Materials letters Vol. 287; p. 129275
• Main Authors: Chen, Shikun, Jiang, Daochuan, Cao, Yimeng, Zeng, Guang, Chi, Haibo, Miao, Yuxin, Zhang, Yifei, Li, Li, He, Yunxia, Ke, Fei, Ye, Sheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 15.03.2021; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Carbon nitride; Catalytic activity; Cobalt ferrites; Doping; Heterojunction; Heterojunctions; Light irradiation; Magnetic materials; Magnetic properties; Magnetic saturation; Materials science; Nanocomposites; Nanosheets; Photocatalysis; Photocatalysts; Photodegradation; Solar energy materials; Photodegradation; Magnetic materials; Nanocomposites; Doping; Solar energy materials; Heterojunction
• ISSN: 0167-577X; 1873-4979
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matlet.2020.129275

The CoFe1.9Y0.1O4/g-C3N4 composite photocatalysts exhibited both superior magnetic separation property and enhanced photocatalytic activity for methyl orange degradation under visible-light irradiation compared with pure g-C3N4, CoFe2O4 and CoFe1.9Y0.1O4. [Display omitted] •A magnetic photocatalyst was prepared by coupling Y-doped CoFe2O4 and g-C3N4.•CoFe1.9Y0.1O4 shows higher activity than undoped CoFe2O4 for MO photodegradation.•CoFe1.9Y0.1O4/g-C3N4 exhibits higher activity than pure g-C3N4 and CoFe1.9Y0.1O4.•The improved performance was attributed to doping and heterojunction construction. The development of efficient recoverable photocatalysts for organic pollution photodegradation has been one of the hot subjects in the past decades as a result of environmental concerns. Herein, a magnetically separable photocatalyst was successfully prepared by coupling Y-doped CoFe2O4 and graphitic carbon nitride through a simple calcination process. The obtained CoFe1.9Y0.1O4/g-C3N4 composite photocatalyst exhibited a saturation magnetization of 9.96 emu·g−1 at 300 K, indicating superior magnetic characteristic. Remarkably, the optimal photocatalytic activity of the CoFe1.9Y0.1O4/g-C3N4 for methylene orange (MO) degradation under visible light irradiation was increased up to about 3.4, 2.3 and 2.0 times larger than that of pure CoFe2O4, g-C3N4 and CoFe1.9Y0.1O4, respectively. Further studies indicated the improved performance could be attributed to the Y doping as well as the type II heterojunction formed between CoFe1.9Y0.1O4 and g-C3N4.