Preparation and characterization of Ce-MOF/g-C3N4 composites and evaluation of their photocatalytic performance

In this study, unique hybrid structures were constructed between a Ce-based metal-organic framework (Ce-MOF) and graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) materials. addition, the g-C3N4 materials used for these heterostructures prepared by five different methods, namely conventional pyrolysis method, chemical exfoliation strong acid, activation an alkaline hydrothermal treatment, melamine-cyanuric acid supramolecular assembly with mechanochemical solvothermally pre-treated method. The structural morphological properties of resulting sheets their composites characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis-derivative thermogravimetry (TGA-DTG), diffuse reflectance UV–vis spectroscopy (UV–vis DRS) N2 sorption-desorption isotherms (BET). Finally, photocatalytic performance was determined following degradation methylene blue (MB) in aqueous solution under UV–visible light irradiation. It found that efficiency Ce-MOF/g-C3N4?TS composite significantly higher than counterparts (Ce-MOF or g-C3N4?TS) MB. When employing composite, UV light-induced MB yielded 96.5% after 120 min dye containing 10 mg/L This corresponds to 5-fold 2-fold improvement rate constant (k) when compared Ce-MOF g-C3N4, respectively.