Graphene oxide and carbon nitride nanosheets co-modified silver chromate nanoparticles with enhanced visible-light photoactivity and anti-photocorrosion properties towards multiple refractory pollutants degradation

- GO/Ag2CrO4/g-C3N4 ternary photocatalyst was synthesized by one-step precipitation method.
- Higher photocatalytic activities towards multiple refractory pollutants degradation.
- Superior photostability was achieved and confirmed in detail.
- Synergistic effect facilitated the separation and transfer photo-induced electron-hole pairs.
- Double Z-scheme photocatalytic mechanism was proposed.

In this work, a ternary composite photocatalyst consisted of graphitic carbon (g-C3N4), graphene oxide (GO) and Ag2CrO4 was successfully synthesized through one-step chemical precipitation route. The GO/Ag2CrO4/g-C3N4 (GO/ACR/CN) nanocomposite exhibited superior photocatalytic performance towards dyes (rhodamine (RhB) and methylene blue (MB)) and two other refractory pollutants (phenol and oxytetracycline) degradation under visible light irradiation. The efficient photo-induced electron-hole pairs separation, multi-step charge transfer and enhanced visible light absorption should be concluded as the synergistic effects among three components, resulting in the improved photoactivity. The decreased degradation efficiency of RhB (MB) over bare ACR was about 25.74% (43.22%) after four times cycles, while insignificant loss was perceived over GO/ACR/CN. The corresponding anti-photocorrosion property was further confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). For in-depth insight into practical applications, the effects of initial concentration and different water sources were also taken into discussions. This work demonstrated that rational and design of ternary nanocomposites could provide a new approach for the development of more efficient visible-light photocatalysts for wastewater treatment and environmental remediation.

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