Engineering of novel g-C3N4 photocatalyst using arc-discharge synthesized sphere-like carbon nanoparticles for enhanced photocatalytic activity

Abstract A highly efficient visible-light-driven photocatalyst was engineered using arc-discharge-developed sphere-like carbon soot nanoparticles (CS) and graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄ or CN) through a single-step pyrolysis process. Different weight ratios were taken starting from 0.1–1% wt. of CS loading in the nanocomposite. All the as-prepared samples were tested under XRD, SEM, TEM, FTIR, PL, BET, XPS, UV-DRS, etc to study the optical, structural, morphological, chemical bonding and other crucial information. Further, the photocatalytic activity was studied by analysing the Rhodamine B (RhB) photodegradation performance. It was observed that 0.1% loaded sample removed 97% of RhB in 90 minutes whereas, pristine g-C₃N₄ removed 88% of the dye. The rate of reaction of the hybrid photocatalyst was 1.44 times greater than the pristine g-C₃N₄ material. This enhanced performance was dedicated to the superior surface area of CS material, longer lifetime of photo-generated charges, suitable band edge levels and band gap leading to synergistic charge separation.