Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Pollutants Using Porous g‐C3N4 Nanosheets Decorated with Gold Nanoparticles

Abstract In this work, a composite photocatalyst consisted of the porous graphitic carbon nitride (pg‐C 3 N 4 ) nanosheets decorated with in‐situ grown gold (Au) nanoparticles were prepared. By characterizing and analyzing chemical compositions and structures, and optical and electrical properties of this Au/pg‐C 3 N 4 composite, the excellent photocatalytic performance mainly comes from the following aspects: firstly, pg‐C 3 N 4 synthesized from melamine by high‐temperature calcination with the assistance of ascorbic acid has larger specific surface area and narrower band gap width than common g‐C 3 N 4 ; secondly, localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect of Au nanoparticles can enhance light absorption of pg‐C 3 N 4 via near‐field enhancement‐induced excitation; thirdly, the heterojunction formed between Au nanoparticles and pg‐C 3 N 4 nanosheets can promote electron transfer. Consequently, Au/pg‐C 3 N 4 presented the obvious improvement of photocatalytic activity on the degradation of rhodamine B and amaranth under simulated solar irradiation that the kinetic rate constant of degradation reaction can be increased by 3.9 and 5.7 times compared with g‐C 3 N 4 , respectively.