Synthesis and characterization of dye/CNS nanocomposites with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity

In this paper, sulfur-doped graphitic carbon nitride (CNS) was synthesized by a facile and efficient heating method, phthalocyanine sensitized CNS via an ultrasound-assisted impregnation method to construct dye/CNS composite materials. The structure and morphology of the samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-vis diffused reflectance spectra (DRS), transmission electron microscope (TEM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), thermogravimetric Analysis Meter (TGA) and Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR). Under visible-light irradiation, the products exhibited enhanced photocatalytic performances for degrading methylene blue (MB). The dramatically improved performance of the composites can be attributed to the increase of specific surface area, the enhancement of the visible-light absorption, and the efficient separation of the photogenerated electron-hole pairs.