Preparation and characterization of silver/g-carbon nitride/chitosan nanocomposite with photocatalytic activity

ABSTRACT

In this work, a visible-light-driven catalyst of Ag/g-C₃N₄/Chitosan (Ag/g-C₃N₄/CS) was developed by a facile soniation-assisted method at room temperature. The surface morphology, crystal structure and chemical composition of the as-prepared catalyst was systematically characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS). The photocatalytic activity of Ag/g-C₃N₄/CS nanocomposite was evaluated on the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) by sodium borohydride (NaBH₄) without separating AgNPs/RGO nanocomposite from the synthesis systems. The result shows that the as-prepared nanocomposite exhibits enhanced photocatalytic activity.

KEYWORDS:

• Silver nanoparticles
• g-carbon nitride
• chitosan
• 4-nitrophenol
• photocatalytic activity

Funding

This work is supported by Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province (NO. E2016208030).