Cobalt oxide particles embedded in carbon nitride nanosheets for enhanced photocatalytic performance

Abstract

Effective removal of organic pollutions and efficient conversion of carbon dioxide (CO₂) under illumination still pose challenges at present. Herein, carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) nanosheets were successfully fabricated via high temperature calcination with melamine as raw material. As a typical p-type semiconductor, cobalt oxide (CoO) particles with the sphere-like morphology were embedded in g-C₃N₄ nanosheets to construct the g-C₃N₄/CoO composites via impregnation and thermal polymerization. High dispersion of CoO particles into g-C₃N₄ matrix effectively prohibits their agglomeration, which can gain larger specific surface area, greatly surpassing that of their components. Furthermore, the well coupled interface between components was successfully constructed to improve charge separation and transfer via p-n junction. The above benefits endow g-C₃N₄/CoO composites with the excellent photocatalytic activity of methyl orange (MO) degradation and CO₂ reduction, remarkably superior to g-C₃N₄ and CoO. The successful preparation of g-C₃N₄/CoO p-n heterojunctions may be a general and beneficial approach to constructing the visible-light-responsive photocatalytic materials.