In situ construction of WO3/g-C3N4 composite photocatalyst with 2D-2D heterostructure for enhanced visible light photocatalytic performance

A WO3/g-C3N4 composite photocatalyst with 2D-2D heterostructure was designed and constructed to boost the visible light performance for degradation of organic pollutants by an in situ preparation strategy. The degradation of RhB as a model reaction was used to evaluate the photocatalytic activity of the WO3/g-C3N4 photocatalyst. The optimized mass fraction of WO3 is 13% for the WO3/g-C3N4 composite photocatalyst, namely the CNW-13 sample, which can almost completely degrade the pollutant in 40 min under 70 W metal halide lamp irradiation. The different contents of WO3/g-C3N4 composite photocatalysts were investigated in detail by a series of detailed characterization measurements. Based on the trapped active species and photoelectrochemical experiments, the enhanced photocatalytic performance of WO3/g-C3N4 can be ascribed to the formation of a Z-scheme system to accelerate the separation and transfer of photo-generated charge carriers. Furthermore, the major active species, superoxide radical (O-center dot(2)-), also can be determined by active species-trapping experiments. It is expected that our current work could provide a counterpart to further develop the efficient composite photocatalysts in practical applications.