Metal-free efficient photocatalyst for stable visible-light photocatalytic degradation of refractory pollutant

Abstract The photocatalytic performance of the star photocatalyst g-C 3 N 4 is restricted by the insufficient solar light absorption, low surface area and the fast recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. The present study developed a facile in situ method to construct hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) decorated g-C 3 N 4 metal-free heterojunction with the aim to greatly enhance the surface area and promote the charge separation. The physical, chemical and optical properties of the resulted samples were thoroughly characterized. The photocatalytic performance of h-BN/g-C 3 N 4 composites were evaluated under visible light irradiation using antibiotic tetracycline (TC) and rhodamine B (RhB) as target pollutants. Results showed that h-BN/g-C 3 N 4 composites exhibited much higher photocatalytic activity than pure g-C 3 N 4 and h-BN. The optimum photocatalytic efficiency of BC-3 sample for the degradation of TC was about 2.3 and 60.3 times higher than that of individual g-C 3 N 4 and h-BN, respectively. Meanwhile, it was about 7.3 and 11.8 times higher than that of individual g-C 3 N 4 and h-BN for RhB degradation, respectively. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of h-BN/g-C 3 N 4 composite is mainly attributed to the larger surface area and the unique physicochemical properties of h-BN nanosheet which acts as a promoter for photoexcited holes transfer. This work indicates that the metal-free h-BN/g-C 3 N 4 hybrid photocatalyst is a promising material in wastewater control.