Enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity of CeVO4/graphitic C3N4 photocatalysts for organic dye degradation

A novel CeVO4/graphitic carbon nitride (CeVO4/g-C3N4) photocatalyst was prepared via a facile mixing and calcination method. The photocatalytic performance of the CeVO4/g-C3N4 samples was evaluated by degrading methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation. The results show that all photocatalysts compared to pure CeVO4 and g-C3N4 exhibit enhanced photocatalytic activity. The sample prepared using 0·1 g CeVO4 and 2 g dicyandiamide shows the optimal removal rate constant of 0·022 min−1, which is two times and 18 times larger than that of g-C3N4 and CeVO4, respectively. The enhancement of photocatalytic activity could be attributed to the strong absorption in the visible region along with the formation of a heterojunction between CeVO4 and g-C3N4, which could efficiently suppress the recombination of the photogenerated electron-hole pairs. A possible enhanced photocatalytic mechanism of CeVO4/g-C3N4 is proposed. Finally, the photocatalyst shows good stability and reusability after four consecutive catalytic runs.