PREPARATION OF BiOl/g-C 3 N 4 COMPOSITES WITH IMPROVED PHOTOCATALYTIC PERFORMANCE

The BiOI/g-C 3 N 4 composites with a sphere-like shape were successfully synthesized via a facile solvothermal method. The morphology, phase and optical properties were characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD and UV–Vis DRS technologies, respectively. Results showed that the BiOI/g-C 3 N 4 composites incorporated a lamellar structure of g-C 3 N 4 and a flower-like structure of BiOI uniformly loaded on the surface of g-C 3 N 4 , which caused the formation of a heterojunction structure for effective separation of charge carriers. Moreover, the photocatalytic degradation performance of as-prepared BiOI/g-C 3 N 4 composites with various ratios was further investigated. Results indicated that the BiOI/g-C 3 N 4 (1:2) composite exhibited wonderful photocatalytic performance in the application of denigrating TC, which could be removed completely under visible light irradiation for 120[Formula: see text]min. The degradation rate of TC still reached 86% after the composite was used five times, which showed excellent stability of the used composite. Results further exhibited that superoxide radical (⋅[Formula: see text]O[Formula: see text]) and hydroxyl radicals (⋅[Formula: see text]OH) were the main active species for photocatalytic degradation of TC, which illustrated a Z-scheme charge transfer mechanism of the BiOI/g-C 3 N 4 composites.