title: In situ growth of TiO2 nanocrystals on g-C3N4 for enhanced photocatalytic performance.
abstract: Well dispersed TiO2 nanocrystals with (001) facets were successfully grown in situ on g-C3N4 through a facial solvothermal method. The resultant TiO2/g-C3N4 composites exhibit remarkably higher efficiency for photocatalytic degradation of phenol as compared to pure catalysts (g-C3N4 or TiO2) or mechanically mixed TiO2/g-C3N4. The optimal composite with 11.2 wt% TiO2 showed the highest degradation rate constant, which is 2.8 times that of pure g-C3N4, 2.2 times that of pure TiO2, and 1.4 times that of mechanically mixed TiO2/g-C3N4. The enhanced photocatalytic activity is mainly attributed to the effective charge separation derived from two aspects: (1) well matched energy levels between TiO2 and g-C3N4 and (2) a uniform and close contact between TiO2 and g-C3N4 that resulted from the in situ growth of highly dispersed TiO2 nanocrystals. The TiO2/g-C3N4 hybrid material prepared in this study is expected to provide a good foundation for the further design and synthesis of advanced TiO2/g-C3N4-based functional materials, and the in situ growth method developed is hopeful to provide a new strategy for the synthesis of other semiconductor-modified g-C3N4 materials.
authors.affiliation: Key Lab for Advanced Materials and Institute of Fine Chemicals, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai 200237, P. R. China. jlzhang@ecust.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Lingzhi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yongdi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Juying
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.forename: Jinlong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang