Enhanced photocatalytic activities of FCNO nanoparticles on graphitic carbon nitride

Efficient charge separation and broadened light absorption are of crucial importance for photocatalytic environmental remediation, and graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) is a very promising photocatalyst for this purpose. Herein, the synthesis of FCNO nanoparticles embedded within graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) by hydrothermal route assisted with pyrolysis of urea was presented. The g-C₃N₄ was obtained from an abundantly available precursor urea and the synthesis process played double role. Urea reacted with metal salts to convert them into metallic oxides and yielded g-C₃N₄. The experimental results revealed the in-situ fabrication of FCNO nanoparticles and formation of g-C₃N₄. The band gap narrowing made it possible that the samples were able to show a wide range of visible light absorption which made them suitable for photocatalytic activity studies. Thus, the materials were utilized for the visible light-based photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye. Photocatalytic degradation efficiency with ~93 % was achieved by the composite FCNO/g-C₃N₄ (50:50). The present approach for the synthesis of materials was proved to be cost-effective and time saving which enabled their use as recyclable photocatalyst.