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Homogeneous iron‐doped carbon‐nitride‐based organo‐catalysts for sensational photocatalytic performance driven by visible light
Author(s) -
Arif Nayab,
Uddin Ikram,
Hayat Asif,
Khan Wasim Ullah,
Ullah Saif,
Hussain Majid
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
polymer international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.592
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1097-0126
pISSN - 0959-8103
DOI - 10.1002/pi.6195
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , photodegradation , materials science , calcination , carbon nitride , electron paramagnetic resonance , graphitic carbon nitride , photoluminescence , visible spectrum , catalysis , diffuse reflectance infrared fourier transform , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , photochemistry , chemical engineering , chemistry , organic chemistry , nuclear magnetic resonance , physics , optoelectronics , engineering
In this study, Fe 2 O 3 /graphitic carbon nitride (g‐CN) composites were fabricated using a simple calcination method. Iron chloride and urea were used as starting precursors for preparation of heterojunction composites (Fe 2 O 3 /g‐CN) by a quick stirring and calcination method. A sequence of Fe 2 O 3 /g‐CN composites were obtained by putting a specific amount of Fe 2 O 3 on the surface of g‐CN at varied temperature (400, 450 and 500 °C). We accomplished a combined analysis using x‐ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform IR spectroscopy (FTIR), electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), elemental analysis spectra (EAS), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis (BET), diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) and photoluminescence spectra (Pl) of resulting samples. Our findings demonstrate that Fe/CN x composites demonstrating a significant improvement in the separation of photogenerated carriers and hole formation, leading towards momentous photocatalytic activity. For the first time, the as‐synthesized composites were used for hydrogen production (water reduction) and methylene blue photodegradation under visible light illumination ( λ = 420 nm). The superior sample Fe/CN 450 exhibits an exceptional photocatalytic efficiency in both electron generation (hydrogen evolution rate) and hole formation (photodegradation) with a rate of 91.1% at 180 min. Along with this, Fe/CN 450 has excellent photochemical stability in hydrogen evolution and pollutant removal. The potential photocatalytic mechanism of Fe/CN 450 composite is compared with experimental results to characterize the photocatalytic phenomenon as a whole. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry