Ultrathin g-C3N4 Nanosheets Coupled with AgIO3 as Highly Efficient Heterostructured Photocatalysts for Enhanced Visible-Light Photocatalytic Activity

The photocatalytic activity of graphite-like carbon nitride (g-C3N4) could be enhanced by heterojunction strategies through increasing the charge-separation efficiency. As a surface-based process, the heterogeneous photocatalytic process would become more efficient if a larger contact region existed in the heterojunction interface. In this work, ultrathin g-C3N4 nanosheets (g-C3N4-NS) with much larger specific surface areas are employed instead of bulk g-C3N4 (g-C3N4-B) to prepare AgIO3/g-C3N4-NS nanocomposite photocatalysts. By taking advantage of this feature, the as-prepared composites exhibit remarkable performances for photocatalytic wastewater treatment under visible-light irradiation. Notably, the optimum photocatalytic activity of AgIO3/g-C3N4-NS composites is almost 80.59 and 55.09 times higher than that of pure g-C3N4-B towards the degradation of rhodamine B and methyl orange pollutants, respectively. Finally, the stability and possible photocatalytic mechanism of the AgIO3/g-C3N4-NS system are also investigated.