Immobilization of g-C(3)N(4) nanosheets on diatomite via electrostatic adsorption and their photocatalytic activity

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C(3)N(4)) nanosheets have been successfully immobilized on diatomite to form a g-C(3)N(4)/diatomite hybrid through a facile electrostatic adsorption method and subsequent calcination process. Electron microscopy studies confirm that the surface of the diatomite is tightly covered with g-C(3)N(4) nanosheets. In addition, the characterization results of Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) verify that there is a strong interaction between the g-C(3)N(4) and diatomite components inside the hybrids. The visible light absorption edge of the hybrids exhibits a significant redshift compared with the bare g-C(3)N(4) nanosheets and diatomite, which leads to the improvement of visible light absorption and utilization. The photocatalytic results demonstrated that the photocatalytic performance for methyl orange and phenol degradation using the hybrids as photocatalysts has been obviously improved compared to that of g-C(3)N(4) nanosheets, which may be ascribed to its adsorption/photocatalysis synergistic effect.