Preparation of g-C3N4 nanorod/InVO4 hollow sphere composite with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activities

•A novel g-C3N4 nanorod/InVO4 hollow sphere composite was fabricated through a template-free way.•The peeling effect caused by the growth of InVO4 led to the formation of g-C3N4 nanorod, opening a new sight for study.•Z-scheme heterojunction was constructed in the g-C3N4/InVO4 composite with enhanced photocatalytic activities.

A novel g-C3N4 nanorod/InVO4 hollow sphere composite was fabricated through a facile template-free method. The structure-property relationship was analyzed, and the formation mechanism of such structure and morphology was also proposed based on the observation from time-dependent morphology evolvement. The results show that InVO4 hollow spheres uniformly load on the surface of g-C3N4 nanorod and thus forming the heterojunction with an intimate interface. The bulk g-C3N4 experiences a possible peeling process to form the rod-like structure, during which the mass ratio of InVO4 and ultraphonic process play a key role. Moreover, bubble-template is believed to determine the formation of InVO4 hollow sphere. Owing to this unique structure and morphology, the enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activities are achieved because of the synergistic effect of light harvesting, high transfer efficiency and enhanced separation efficiency of photo-generated carriers. And more importantly, this fabrication method combines heterojunction constructing with morphology controlling of g-C3N4 in one step, and thus may supply a new idea for the preparation of other g-C3N4 based composites.

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