Novel AgCl/g-C3N4 heterostructure nanotube: Ultrasonic synthesis, characterization, and photocatalytic activity

In this paper, we utilize a two-step solvothermal associated with in-situ ultrasonic precipitation method to construct novel AgCl/g-C3N4 heterostructure nanotube. Thereafter, the structure and morphology of the hybrid was testified by XRD and FE-SEM, indicating that the hybrid was composed of hexagonal phase g-C3N4 and cubic phase AgCl. Furthermore, the AgCl nanoparticles with the average size of 20 nm were completely dispersed on the surface and nozzle of the g-C3N4 nanotube with the average diameter of 100 nm and the average length of 800 nm. Then the decontamination performance of AgCl/g-C3N4 composite was investigated, showing that the AgCl (20%wt)/g-C3N4 composite has higher photocatalytic effect on Rhodamine B (RhB) solution than pure g-C3N4, which has the higher 92% total removal rate of RhB and the larger K value of 0.02827 min−1. The improved photocatalytic performance can be ascribed to the efficient separation and transfer of photo-generated electron-hole at the hybrid interface via a Z-scheme mechanism.