Magnetically recoverable highly efficient visible-light-active g-C3N4/Fe3O4/Ag2WO4/AgBr nanocomposites for photocatalytic degradations of environmental pollutants

Herein, magnetically recoverable g-C3N4/Fe3O4/Ag2WO4/AgBr (gCN/M/AgW/AgBr) nanocomposites, as greatly efficient visible-light-active photocatalysts, were fabricated by successive decoration of Fe3O4, Ag2WO4, and AgBr over g-C3N4 (gCN) and they were characterized by XRD, EDX, SEM, TEM, HRTEM, UV-vis DRS, FT-IR, PL, TG, and VSM analysis. Visible-light-induced photocatalytic performances were studied by degradations of RhB, MB, MO, and fuchsine pollutants. It was confirmed that the nanocomposites are effective in the reduction of e(-)/h(+) recombination through the matched interactions between energy bands of gCN, Fe3O4, Ag2WO4, and AgBr semiconductors. The highest photocatalytic degradation efficiency was observed for the gCN/M/AgW/AgBr (30%) nanocomposite when it was refluxed for 30 min. Activity of this nanocomposite is almost 21, 41, 94, and 10-folds greater than those of the gCN toward the degradations of RhB, MB, MO, and fuchsine pollutants, respectively. Additionally, a mechanism for the superior photocatalytic performances was proposed using reactive species scavenging experiments and characterization results. (C) 2017 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.