Photodegradation performance of methylene blue aqueous solution on Ag/g-C3N4 catalyst

The graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) was synthesized by the polymerization of dicyandiamide, then silver hybrid g-C3N4 (Ag/g-C3N4) catalyst was prepared by photodeposition, deposition-precipitation, and doping methods. The first two methods deposited silver nanoparticles on the surface of g-C3N4 semiconductor, while the last one embedded silver atom into the g-C3N4 matrix without destroying the host structure. The photodegradation behavior of methylene blue (MB) aqueous solution over Ag/g-C3N4 catalyst was performed to evaluate the photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared samples. The samples were characterized by XRD, UV-vis spectroscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis and TEM. The experiment results indicate that the Ag/g-C3N4 prepared by the doping method possesses the best photocatalytic activity, which can be explained by promoting the transfer of electron due to the formation of organic-metal hybrid material.