Photodegradation of Organic Pollutants Coupled with Simultaneous Photocatalytic Evolution of Hydrogen Using Quantum-Dot-Modified g-C3N4 Catalysts under Visible-Light Irradiation

Carbon quantum dots/CdS quantum dots/g-C3N4 (CDs/CdS/GCN) photocatalysts have been designed and prepared. Systematic characterization such as XRD, SEM, TEM, UV, and XPS, were done to confirm the composite catalysts of CDs/CdS/GCN. The simultaneous photocatalytic production of hydrogen coupled with degradation of organic contaminants (p-chlorophenol, bisphenol A, and tetracycline, called 4-NP, BPA, and TTC, respectively) was efficiently realized over the resultant CDs/CdS/GCN composites. The as-prepared 3%CDs/10%CdS/GCN exhibits high efficiency of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from water splitting and photodegradation rates of organic pollutants in aqueous solutions of 4-NP, BPA, and TTC under visible-light illumination since the formation of interfaces between CdS quantum dots and GCN nanosheets leads to an efficient charge separation efficiency. Furthermore, as compared to that in a pure water system, the photocatalytic evolution rate of H2 over the 3%CDs/10%CdS/GCN catalyst in the presence of 4-NP solution is decreased, while the H2 evolution rates increase when BPA or TTC solution were used instead of 4-NP solution under visible-light irradiation. Consequently, 4-NP shows higher photodegradation efficiency than do BPA and TTC in the simultaneous photocatalytic oxidation and reduction system. Aiming at making clear the relationship between the photocatalytic H2 production and the photocatalytic pollutants degradation, density functional theory (DFT) calculations, and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) were used for a systematic investigation. The present work reports a plausible mechanism of photodegradation of different organic contaminants with synchronous photocatalytic H2 evolution from water and the photocatalytic enhancement of the CDs/10%CdS/GCN catalysts.