Ag Nanoparticles Loaded on Porous Graphitic Carbon Nitride Nanosheets with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity for Degradation of an Azo dye, RB5Under Visible Ight Irradiation

To address the increasing challenges of clean energy and environmental issues, thedevelopment of green technology is of prime importance [1]. Among all techniques, the visiblelight active (VLA) photocatalyts could convert directly solar energy to chemical energy. In thiswork, VLA photocatalysts, Ag-doped graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) with different amounts ofsilver were prepared to degrade an azo dye, RB5 under visible light irradiation. The preparedphotocatalys were characterized by several techniques including X-ray diffraction, field emissionscanning microscopy, BET surface area, UV-Vis, and photoluminescence spectrophotometer.The photocatlyst containing 2% Ag showed the superior photocatalytic activity compared to g-C3N4 nanosheets and 1% Ag doped g-C3N4. The enhanced photocatalytic performance may bedue to the synergic effect between Ag and porous g-C3N4 for suppressing the recombination ofphotogenerated electron-hole pairs.

Keywords:

Graphitic Carbon Nitride , Azo Dye , Silver , VLA Photocatalyst