title: Hydrothermal Synthesis g-C3N4/Nano-InVO4 Nanocomposites and Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity for Hydrogen Production under Visible Light Irradiation.
abstract: We synthesized g-C3N4/nano-InVO4 heterojunction-type photocatalyts by in situ growth of InVO4 nanoparticles onto the surface of g-C3N4 sheets via a hydrothermal process. The results of SEM and TEM showed that the obtained InVO4 nanoparticles 20 nm in size dispersed uniformly on the surface of g-C3N4 sheets, which revealed that g-C3N4 sheets was probably a promising support for in situ growth of nanosize materials. The achieved intimate interface promoted the charge transfer and inhibited the recombination rate of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, which significantly improved the photocatalytic activity. A possible growth process of g-C3N4/nano-InVO4 nanocomposites was proposed based on different mass fraction of g-C3N4 content. The obtained g-C3N4/nano-InVO4 nanocomposites could achieve effective separation of charge-hole pairs and stronger reducing power, which caused enhanced H2 evolution from water-splitting compared with bare g-C3N4 sheets and g-C3N4/micro-InVO4 composites, respectively. As a result, the g-C3N4/nano-InVO4 nanocomposite with a mass ratio of 80:20 possessed the maximum photocatalytic activity for hydrogen production under visible-light irradiation.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University , Xuefu Road 301, Zhenjiang, 212013, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: School of Biology and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology , Zhenjiang, 212003, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Fanpeng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University , Xuefu Road 301, Zhenjiang, 212013, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Tianjun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University , Xuefu Road 301, Zhenjiang, 212013, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Mingshan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Safety Engineering, Changzhou University , Changzhou, 213000, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Chengjie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University , Xuefu Road 301, Zhenjiang, 212013, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University , Xuefu Road 301, Zhenjiang, 212013, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Weidong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shi
keywords: H2 production from water splitting; InVO4; g-C3N4; heterojunction; interface; nanocomposites