Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity of GO-Ag@CoCN Composite for RhB Degradation under Visible Light Irradiation

Abstract

Ag nanoparticles and GO co-modified Co-g-C3N4 composites were prepared successfully. The visible-light adsorption of the optimized GO-Ag@Co-g-C3N4 was improved significantly by the SPR effect of Ag nanoparticles, and the separation efficiency of photo-induced electron-hole pairs of g-C3N4 was accelerated to a large extent by the heterojunction structure of the composite and the superior conductivity of GO. The optimized GO-Ag@CoCN showed promising degradation efficiency for RhB (10 mg/L) under visible light illumination (λ>420 nm) for 160 min, which was 130% and 16.5% higher than the performance using bare g-C3N4 and optimized Ag@Co-g-C3N4, respectively. This work provided a novel way for improving the optical property and photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4.