title: CeO2 nanorod/g-C3N4/N-rGO composite: enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic performance and the role of N-rGO as electronic transfer media.
abstract: A novel CeO2 nanorod/g-C3N4/N-rGO ternary composite was synthesized using a simple ultrasonic-heat treatment method for application in the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants under the irradiation of visible light. This material shows superior photocatalytic activity compared with pure g-C3N4 and CeO2 nanorods, and the photodegradation rate of RhB is up to 2.1-fold higher than that of the g-C3N4/N-rGO (at the optimum content of 0.25 wt% N-rGO) catalyst when the content of CeO2 nanorods was 2 wt%. The enhancement of photocatalytic activity could be attributed to the synergistic effect among CeO2, g-C3N4 and N-rGO (serves as a conductive network), which was found to lead to more efficient separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, resulting in the effective photodegradation of organic pollutants. In addition, superoxide radical anions (˙O2(-)) and holes (h(+)) were considered as the main reactive species during the photodegradation process, and the ternary composite also exhibited preferable stability for the decomposition of RhB. This work provides an in-depth perspective for understanding the N-doped graphene-involved photocatalytic mechanism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, P. R. China. wldai@fudan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chai
authors.forename: Qianqian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Wei-Lin
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Dai