Synthesis and characterization of g-C3N4/BiFeO3 composites with an enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity

The novel visible light-induced g-C3N4/BiFeO3 composites were successfully synthesized by introducing BiFeO3 into polymeric g-C3N4. The structures and optical properties of composites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), field-emission transmission electron microscope (TEM), UV-vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy (DRS), respectively. For the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB), the g-C3N4/BiFeO3 composites exhibited significantly higher visible light photocatalytic activity than that of a single semiconductor. The optimal percentage of doped g-C3N4 was 50%. Both photooxidation and photoreduction processes follow first order kinetics. In addition, the stability of the prepared photocatalyst in the photocatalytic process was also investigated. The enhanced photocatalytic performance could be due to the high separation efficiency of the photogenerated electron-holes pairs. The possible photocatalytic mechanism of g-C3N4/BiFeO3 was proposed to guide the further improvement of their photocatalytic activity. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.