Enhancement of photocatalytic performance in CO2 reduction over Mg/g-C3N4 catalysts under visible light irradiation

A series of flaked Mg/g-C3N4 catalysts were synthesized via an in-situ hydrothermal deposition method and measured their photocatalytic activity for CO2 reduction. The characterization results indicated that the obtained Mg/pCN catalysts had high surface area and massive active sites for CO2 absorption. The introduction of Mg species had a positive effect to extend the spectral response property and increased the separation rate of photogenerated electron-holes pairs. Mg-doped g-C3N4 catalysts showed much higher photocatalytic performance than pCN. The maximum CH4 and CO yields of 17.09 and 4.13 mu mol/g-cat, respectively, had been obtained for CO2 reduction after 6 h reaction.