Arabinda Baruah

Synthesis of a novel and stable g-C3N4–Ag3PO4 hybrid nanocomposite photocatalyst and study of the photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation

A facile and reproducible template free in situ precipitation method has been developed for the synthesis of Ag3PO4 nanoparticles on the surface of a g-C3N4 photocatalyst at room temperature. The g-C3N4–Ag3PO4 organic–inorganic hybrid nanocomposite photocatalysts were characterized by various techniques. TEM results show the in situ growth of finely distributed Ag3PO4 nanoparticles on the surface of the g-C3N4 sheet. The optimum photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4–Ag3PO4 at 25 wt% of g-C3N4 under visible light is almost 5 and 3.5 times higher than pure g-C3N4 and Ag3PO4 respectively. More attractively, the stability of Ag3PO4 was improved due to the in situ deposition of Ag3PO4 nanoparticles on the surface of the g-C3N4 sheet. The improved performance of the g-C3N4–Ag3PO4 hybrid nanocomposite photocatalysts under visible light irradiation was induced by a synergistic effect, including high charge separation efficiency of the photoinduced electron–hole pair, the smaller particle size, relatively high surface area and the energy band structure. Interestingly, the heterostructured g-C3N4–Ag3PO4 nanocomposite significantly reduces the use of the noble metal silver, thereby effectively reducing the cost of the Ag3PO4 based photocatalyst.

Cost-effective and eco-friendly synthesis of novel and stable N-doped ZnO/g-C3N4 core–shell nanoplates with excellent visible-light responsive photocatalysis

N-doped ZnO/g-C3N4 hybrid core-shell nanoplates have been successfully prepared via a facile, cost-effective and eco-friendly ultrasonic dispersion method for the first time. HRTEM studies confirm the formation of the N-doped ZnO/g-C3N4 hybrid core-shell nanoplates with an average diameter of 50 nm and the g-C3N4 shell thickness can be tuned by varying the content of loaded g-C3N4. The direct contact of the N-doped ZnO surface and g-C3N4 shell without any adhesive interlayer introduced a new carbon energy level in the N-doped ZnO band gap and thereby effectively lowered the band gap energy. Consequently, the as-prepared hybrid core-shell nanoplates showed a greatly enhanced visible-light photocatalysis for the degradation of Rhodamine B compare to that of pure N-doped ZnO surface and g-C3N4. Based on the experimental results, a proposed mechanism for the N-doped ZnO/g-C3N4 photocatalyst was discussed. Interestingly, the hybrid core-shell nanoplates possess high photostability. The improved photocatalytic performance is due to a synergistic effect at the interface of the N-doped ZnO and g-C3N4 including large surface-exposure area, energy band structure and enhanced charge-separation properties. Significantly, the enhanced performance also demonstrates the importance of evaluating new core-shell composite photocatalysts with g-C3N4 as shell material.

Synthesis of highly efficient and recyclable visible-light responsive mesoporous g-C3N4 photocatalyst via facile template-free sonochemical route

Herein we demonstrate a facile template-free sonochemical strategy to synthesize mesoporous g-C3N4 with a high surface area and enhanced photocatalytic activity. The TEM and nitrogen adsorption–desorption studies confirm mesoporous structure in g-C3N4 body. The photocatalytic activity of mesoporous g-C3N4 is almost 5.5 times higher than that of bulk g-C3N4 under visible-light irradiation. The high photocatalytic performance of the mesoporous g-C3N4 was attributed to the much higher specific surface area, efficient adsorption ability and the unique interfacial mesoporous structure which can favour the absorption of light and separation of photoinduced electron–hole pairs more effectively. A possible photocatalytic mechanism was discussed by the radicals and holes trapping experiments. Interestingly, the synthesized mesoporous g-C3N4 possesses high reusability. Hence the mesoporous g-C3N4 can be a promising photocatalytic material for practical applications in water splitting as well as environmental remediation.

Design of porous silica supported tantalum oxide hollow spheres showing enhanced photocatalytic activity.

Silica-supported tantalum oxide (ST) hollow spheres were designed for photocatalytic applications in the UV range of 4.1 to 4.8 eV. These nanostructures with a variable diameter of 100-250 nm and shell thickness of 24-58 nm were obtained by the hydrothermal treatment of tantalum isopropoxide and tetraethylorthosilicate at 120 °C for 48 h in the presence of cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide, which was used as a capping agent. The maximum observed surface area was found to be 610 m(2)/g and pore size distribution of ST hollow spheres varied from 13.4 to 19.0 nm. Lewis acidity of silica and the contact area between SiO2 and Ta2O5 plays a crucial role in controlling the photocatalytic properties of the ST hollow spheres. We observe a remarkable 6× enhancement in the photoactivity of silica-supported tantalum oxide hollow spheres compared to pure Ta2O5.

Enhancement of photocatalytic efficiency using heterostructured SiO2–Ta2O5 thin films

Fabrication of controlled layered structured thin films with tunable physical properties is an important area of research as thin film technology holds potential for a variety of industrial applications. In the present work, we have demonstrated the process for fabrication of multilayer films of silica and tantalum oxide by Langmuir–Blodgett film fabrication technique and investigated their photocatalytic degradation efficiency for organic dye (Rhodamine B) under UV radiation. The photocatalytic degradation of RhB in presence of SiO2–Ta2O5 exhibited remarkably enhanced photocatalytic activity than pure Ta2O5. This is because of the high separation efficiency of photo-generated electron–hole pair due to the Lewis acidity of silica and the greater contact area between these two layers. The SiO2–Ta2O5 system was optimized for the number of self-assembled layers of silica and tantalum oxide, and it has been found that 10S–15T–10S–15T–10S–15T (where S and T represents SiO2 and Ta2O5 respectively) pattern has been found to have maximum photocatalytic degradation efficiency of 71% (with 18% degradation per unit area of the film) which is 3.5 fold higher than pure Ta2O5 under identical experimental condition. Also, the photocatalytic activity of these films was also proved to be sensitive to the sequence of silica and tantalum oxide layers when the film area of all the samples was kept constant (3.75 cm2). Further analysis confirms that the degradation of dye molecules has been largely promoted by the photo generated holes, rather than the super oxide radical anions.