Enhancement of g-C3N4 nanosheets photocatalysis by synergistic interaction of ZnS microsphere and RGO inducing multistep charge transfer

•Novel CN/RGO/ZS ternary composite photocatalysts were synthesized.•The CN/RGO/ZS ternary composite showed enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity.•The enhanced activity was mainly due to synergistic interaction of ZnS and RGO.•Multistep charge transfer was induced in the CN/RGO/ZS ternary composite.•The hole and superoxide radicals are the two main photoactive species.

The ternary nanocomposite of g-C3N4/reduced graphene oxide/ZnS (CN/RGO/ZS) has been prepared through a facile precipitation route for the first time. The as-prepared CN/RGO/ZS composite exhibit distinctly enhanced photocatalytic activities toward the degradation of Rhodamine B (about 97% after 60 min) under visible light irradiation, which was about 1.04, 1.17 and 5.38 times higher than those of CN/RGO, CN/ZS and RGO/ZS. The enhanced photocatalytic performance of RGO/CN/ZS composite arises from the synergistic effects of three components: effective charge separation, multistep transfer between CN/ZS heterojunction and RGO nanosheets, and enhanced visible-light absorption. The relative mechanism has been investigated by active species trapping and ESR analysis. This work may provide useful insights to design and construction of CN-based ternary composite photocatalysts with enhanced photocatalytic activity.

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