Ag2MoO4 nanoparticles encapsulated in g-C3N4 for sunlight photodegradation of pollutants

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), a promising metal-free photocatalyst, shows a high thermal stability, excellent chemical stability, and great optical absorption of solar light. However, a short life of activated electron-hole pairs limits g-C3N4 in practical applications. In this work, Ag2MoO4 nanoparticles encapsulated in g-C3N4 (Ag2MoO4/g-C3N4) was synthesized with a facile in-situ precipitation method. A variety of characterization techniques were applied for analyzing the compositions, morphologies and optical properties of Ag2MoO4/g-C3N4. The band structure of Ag2MoO4 produces a synergistic effect with g-C3N4, which can efficiently increase solar light absorption and reduce the recombination rate of the photo-induced electron-hole pairs. Therefore, this hybrid catalyst presents a much higher photocatalytic activity for the degradation of various organic pollutants (bisphenol A, acyclovir, and methyl orange) and strong stability under both artifical and real sunlight, which is promising for practical application.