In situ growing Cu2(OH)2CO3 on oxidized carbon nitride with enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution and pollutant degradation

A novel composite has been successfully synthesized in situ via a coprecipitation method about the coupling of Cu-2(OH)(2)CO3 with oxidized carbon nitride (O-g-C3N4) forming Cu-2(OH)(2)CO3/O-g-C3N4 (CuCN) heterojunction structure. The as-prepared composites were characterized by diverse means. The CuCN composite with 3:5 mass ratio of Cu-2(OH)(2)CO3 to O-g-C3N4 (60CuCN) presented an extremely excellent photocatalytic activity. The photocatalytic H-2 evolution of 60CuCN was around 23.26 and 44.62 times higher than that of g-C3N4 and Cu-2(OH)(2)CO3, respectively. The photocatalytic degradation malachite green (MG) rate of 60CuCN was up to 91%, which was around 2.2 and 4.8 times as much as that of g-C3N4 and Cu-2(OH)(2)CO3, respectively. These results are mainly attributed to the structure property of O-g-C3N4 and the heterojunction structure of the composite, which could effectively accelerate the separation and transfer rate of photogenerated electrons and holes. The holes (h(+)) and superoxide radicals (center dot O-2(-)) played a dominant role in photocatalytic degradation MG reaction. (C) 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.