Construction of a well-dispersed Ag/graphene-like g-C₃N₄ photocatalyst and enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity

In order to overcome the intrinsic drawback of pristine g-C₃N₄, we demonstrate a simple thermal oxidation exfoliation-photodeposition technique to fabricate a Ag/graphene-like g-C₃N₄ (Ag/G-g-C₃N₄) photocatalyst. It was revealed that the monodispersed Ag nanoparticles were well dispersed on the surface of graphene-like g-C₃N₄ (G-g-C₃N₄). The Ag/G-g-C₃N₄ displayed an enhanced photocatalytic activity for methylene blue degradation and the degradation rate was 10 times higher than that of pristine g-C₃N₄ under visible light irradiation. The enhancement of photocatalytic activity could be attributed to the surface plasmon resonance effect of Ag and large surface area (189.9 m² g⁻¹) of G-g-C₃N₄, which improve the visible light absorption ability and provide abundant reactive sites as well as promoting photogenerated electron-hole pair separation.