Ag Nanoparticles Loaded on Porous Graphitic Carbon Nitride Nanosheets with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity for Degradation of an Azo dye, RB5 Under Visible Ight Irradiation

To address the increasing challenges of clean energy and environmental issues, the development of green technology is of prime importance [1]. Among all techniques, the visible light active (VLA) photocatalyts could convert directly solar energy to chemical energy. In this work, VLA photocatalysts, Ag-doped graphitic carbon nitride (g-C¬3N4) with different amounts of silver were prepared to degrade an azo dye, RB5 under visible light irradiation. The prepared photocatalys were characterized by several techniques including X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning microscopy, BET surface area, UV-Vis, and photoluminescence spectrophotometer. The photocatlyst containing 2% Ag showed the superior photocatalytic activity compared to g-C3N4 nanosheets and 1% Ag doped g-C3N4. The enhanced photocatalytic performance may be due to the synergic effect between Ag and porous g-C3N4 for suppressing the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs.