Mesoporous black Tio2-x/Ag nanospheres coupled with g-C3N4 nanosheets as 3D/2D ternary heterojunctions visible light photocatalysts

3D mesoporous black TiO2-x/Ag nanosphere coupled with 2D g-C3N4 sheet ternary heterojunctions are successfully fabricated through a facile evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) process and photodeposition method, followed by a mild calcination (350 degrees C) under an argon atmosphere after an in situ solid-state chemical reduction strategy. The resultant mesoporous black TiO2-x/Ag/g-C3N4 ternary heterojunctions with narrow band gap of similar to 2.27 eV possess a relative high specific surface area of similar to 100 m(2) g(-1), main pore size of 6.2 nm and the highest visible-light-driven photocatalytic property for degradation of methyl orange (97%) and methylene blue (99%). The apparent reaction rate constants (k) of mesoporous black TiO2-x/Ag/g-C3N4 for methyl orange and methylene blue are 9 and 11 times higher than that of pristine TiO2. The possible mechanism is proposed, and the excellent photocatalytic property can be ascribed to the introduction of Ti3+ self-doping and g-C3N4, which favor the visible light absorption and the separation of electron-hole pairs, the surface plasma resonance effect of Ag nanoparticle, and the mesoporous networks offer more surface active sites. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.