Synthesis of hollow lantern-like Eu(III)-doped g-C3N4 with enhanced visible light photocatalytic perfomance for organic degradation

A series of hollow structure lantern-like Eu(III)-doped g-C3N4 (xEu-CN, x = 1, 2, 3) was firstly synthesized by heating a mixture of melamine, HNO3 and Eu2O3 at 500 °C for 2 h. The phase, morphology and optical properties of the serial xEu-CN samples were characterized by different techniques, including TEM, XRD, FT-IR, SEM, XPS, BET, UV–vis, PL, photocurrent, and EIS. The results indicated that Eu doping extraordinarily enhanced the photocatalytic activity of pure g-C3N4, and the 2Eu-CN exhibited the highest photocatalytic performance with a 98% (82%) degradation rate for RhB (TC), 6.03 (1.71)-fold of pure g-C3N4(CN). The higher photocatalytic efficiency is ascribed to the synergy effect of Eu(III) and the hollow structures, which led to a larger surface specific area, bandgap narrowing, enhanced light harvesting ability and efficient charge separation.