Fabrication of metal-free PTET-T-COOH/g-C(3)N(4) heterostructure for enhancing photocatalytic activity

In this research work, we successfully fabricated a range of PTET-T-COOH/g-C(3)N(4) heterostructures via a simple method. The as-prepared PTET-T-COOH/g-C(3)N(4) heterostructures show enhanced photocatalytic degradation activity as compared to pure g-C(3)N(4). For the photocatalytic degradation of RhB, the optimal PTET-T-COOH/g-C(3)N(4)-1% heterostructure is nearly 3.83 times that of the pure g-C(3)N(4). The enhancement of photocatalytic performance is ascribed to three aspects: one is the strong interaction between PTET-T-COOH and g-C(3)N(4); the second is the larger surface area of the PTET-T-COOH/g-C(3)N(4) heterostructure compared to that of pure g-C(3)N(4); the third is the effectively improved transferability of photogenerated carriers. In addition, the whole photocatalytic reaction mechanism over the PTET-T-COOH/g-C(3)N(4) heterostructure is provided. This work may offer a hopeful method to synthesize any other heterostructure with high stability and superior photocatalytic activity.