• Shanker, Vishnu
• Sreedhar, B.
• Tonda, Surendar
• Kumar, Santosh
• Baruah, Arabinda
• Kumar, Bharat

Abstract

<p>N-doped ZnO/g-C₃N₄ hybrid core–shell nanoplates have been successfully prepared <em>via</em>a facile, cost-effective and eco-friendly ultrasonic dispersion methodfor the first time. HRTEM studies confirm the formation of the N-dopedZnO/g-C₃N₄ hybrid core–shell nanoplates with an average diameter of 50 nm and the g-C₃N₄ shell thickness can be tuned by varying the content of loaded g-C₃N₄. The direct contact of the N-doped ZnO surface and g-C₃N₄shell without any adhesive interlayer introduced a new carbon energylevel in the N-doped ZnO band gap and thereby effectively lowered theband gap energy. Consequently, the as-prepared hybrid core–shellnanoplates showed a greatly enhanced visible-light photocatalysis forthe degradation of Rhodamine B compare to that of pure N-doped ZnOsurface and g-C₃N₄. Based on the experimental results, a proposed mechanism for the N-doped ZnO/g-C₃N₄photocatalyst was discussed. Interestingly, the hybrid core–shellnanoplates possess high photostability. The improved photocatalyticperformance is due to a synergistic effect at the interface of theN-doped ZnO and g-C₃N₄including large surface-exposure area, energy band structure andenhanced charge-separation properties. Significantly, the enhancedperformance also demonstrates the importance of evaluating newcore–shell composite photocatalysts with g-C₃N₄ as shell material.</p>

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• dispersion
• surface
• Carbon
• composite
• ultrasonic
• band structure