In situ self-assembly fabrication of ultrathin sheet-like CuS modified g–C₃N₄ heterojunction and its enhanced visible-light photocatalytic performance

Abstract

Photocatalysts with heterojunction structure have been widely used for organic degradation. In this study, CuS/g-C3N4 heterojunction was formed by in-situ self-assembly via a simply hydrothermal method. A series of characterizations were applied to analyzing the morphology, structure, optical properties and photo-induced electron transfer of the samples. The effect of CuS mass ratio in the CuS/g-C3N4 composite on methyl blue (10 mg/L) degradation under visible-light illumination was discussed. When CuS mass ratio was 60%, CuS/g-C3N4 behaved the highest photocatalytic efficiency which is 17 times higher than that of pure g-C3N4, and the optimal heterojunction exhibited promising photocatalytic stability as well. The synthesized CuS/g-C3N4 with intimate contact and promising photocatalytic performance provides important implications on analogous researches on g-C3N4-based heterojunctions for photocatalytic applications.