Fabrication of metal-free 2D/2D g-C3N4/rGO composite towards the degradation of harmful organics

In recent years, g-C3N4 based 2D/2D hybrid architecture has elicited researcher's attention for the environmental applications. In the present study, g-C3N4/x-rGO composites with different weight % of rGO (x = 0.5 %, 1%, 2%, 4%) were synthesized via simple one-pot hydrothermal method. The synthesized catalysts were analyzed by various instrumental techniques. The photocatalytic performance of the synthesized catalysts was evaluated towards the degradation of reactive blue-19 dye and tetracycline antibiotic under visible light irradiation. Among the synthesized catalysts, the g-C3N4/2%-rGO catalyst showed superior photocatalytic activity. The PL spectra of the synthesized catalysts reveal that the g-C3N4/2%-rGO catalyst exhibited lower rate of electron hole-pair recombination compared to bare g-C3N4 and hence shows higher photocatalytic activity. The major influence of photogenerated holes (h(+)) and O-center dot(2)- radicals rather than (OH)-O-center dot radicals on photocatalytic degradation of dye and antibiotic solution over g-C3N4/2%-rGO was confirmed by radical trapping experiments.