Synergistic effects of Ag-doped and morphology regulation of graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets for enhanced photocatalytic performance

In this study, a simple protocol for synthesizing silver doped and morphological regulation to improve the photocatalytic performance of g-C3N4 was reported. The as-synthesized single atom dispersed Ag doped graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets (Ag-CNNS) showed excellent performance for the degradation of 2-Mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) and Rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light irradiation, mainly attributing to the synergistic effect of Ag doping and porous carbon nitride nanosheets (CNNS). On one hand, Ag doping promoted the capture and transfer of photogenerated electrons in g-C3N4. On the other hand, the presence of crimped nanosheets enabled g-C3N4 to have a larger specific surface area and shorten the charge diffusion distance from bulk to surface. Moreover, the increased photocurrent response proved that carriers had higher transport efficiency and interfacial catalytic reactivity. Cycle experiments confirmed that the 1% Ag-CNNS sample has good photocatalytic stability and reusability. Possible photocatalytic mechanism was proposed basing quenching experiment. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

A simple protocol was reported for synthesizing silver doped and morphological regulated g-C3N4 to improve its photocatalytic performance. The synergistic effect of Ag doping and porous carbon nitride nanosheets enhanced photogenerated electron capture and transfer efficiency, leading to excellent degradation of organic pollutants under visible light irradiation. The increased photocurrent response and proposed photocatalytic mechanism further supported the enhanced efficiency and stability of the 1% Ag-CNNS sample.