Photo-Fenton performance and mechanism of g-C3N4/FeOCl nanocomposite under simulate sunlight

Abstract g-C3N4/FeOCl nanocomposites are prepared by a simple calcination method according to the different composite mass ratios of g-C3N4 and FeOCl. The structural and morphological characterization of the composite samples by XRD and SEM and TEM revealed the presence of g-C3N4 around FeOCl, but did not change FeOCl crystal structure. The pH range of the composites was found to be wide from the photo-Fenton experiments, and the adsorption and photo-Fenton performance were good under weak alkaline conditions. Moreover, the photocatalytic experiments from the composite samples revealed that the presence of g-C3N4 improved the light catalystic performance of FeOCl. This is attributed to the formation of Z-type heterojunctions by the composite of FeOCl and g-C3N4, which reduces the carriers complexation efficiency. ·OH plays a major role in the removal of organic matter from water. The cyclic stability properties of the composites are excellent, which implies a great prospect for industrial use. In this work, the high-efficiency photo-Fenton performance of g-C3N4/FeOCl-2 provides a new idea about the modification of pure FeOCl.