Novel g-C3N4/TiO2 nanorods with enhanced photocatalytic activity for water treatment and H2 production

The g-C3N4 was peeled off into nanosheets structure by ultrasonic, and then combined with TiO2 nanorods, the obtained composite was subjected to secondary high-temperature calcination to obtain a photocatalyst with smaller interfacial spacing, high photoelectron transfer rate and high photocatalytic performance. The structure was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. It was found that g-C3N4 in the form of nanosheets was uniformly attached to the surface of TiO2 nanorods. UV-Vis diffuse reflection spectra (UV-Vis) and Photoluminescence (PL) spectra were obtained to confirm that full coverage of the ultraviolet region to the visible region was achieved and the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs was effectively inhibited. Degradation experiments and hydrogen evolution experiments showed that the composites photocatalytic properties were enhanced. The degradation rate of rhodamine B (RhB) at 35 min is achieved 98.5%, hydrogen production rate as high as 150 umol/g/h. The catalyst has very good photocatalytic stability. The research in this paper has an important impact on the photocatalytic preparation of hydrogen.