Highly efficient Z-scheme Ag3PO4/PtNPs/g-C3N4 photocatalyst for degradation of organic pollutants in water

Organic pollutants in water cause serious waste of water resources. Therefore, it is important to design efficient photocatalysts to address the problem of waste water. Herein, solid Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst, Ag3PO4/PtNPs/g-C3N4, was prepared via in-situ deposition. Under xenon lamp (full wavelength) irradiation, the catalyst efficiently degraded solutions of rhodamine B and phenol within 9 min and 30 min, respectively. This shows better photodegradation performance (99.4% of Rh B, and 97.0% of phenol) than other catalysts and demonstrates that the synergistic effect of its three components results in improved photocatalytic activity. Furthermore, holes and superoxide radicals were identified as main active species during catalysis with Ag3PO4/ PtNPs/g-C3N4 based on scavenging experiments of active species and electron spin resonance detection results. In proposed photocatalytic mechanism, PtNPs act as a bridge and accelerate charge transfer on ternary Ag3PO4/ PtNPs/g-C3N4. This study provides ternary Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst construction for application in the treatment of organic pollutants.

Automated summary

In this study, a solid Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst, Ag3PO4/PtNPs/g-C3N4, was prepared via in-situ deposition and demonstrated efficient degradation of rhodamine B and phenol in water. The synergistic effect of its three components resulted in better photodegradation performance compared to other catalysts. The active species responsible for catalysis were identified as holes and superoxide radicals.