Synergistic effects of Au/g-C3N4/montmorillonite composite nanocatalysts for enhanced photocatalytic performance with visible light illumination

The Au/g-C 3 N 4 /montmorillonite (AGM) ternary nanocomposites were designed and synthesized by the electrostatic self-assembly method. Scan electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), x-ray diffractometer (XRD), Fourier infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV–visible spectrophotometer (UV–vis) and photoluminescence fluorescence spectrometer (PL) were used to characterize the morphology and structure of the AGM composites. The results show that the 14 nm gold nanoparticles were successfully embedded into g-C 3 N 4 loaded on the 2D montmorillonite surface. The synergistic effect between the three materials in AGM was investigated through photocatalytic reaction experiments with acid orange 7 (AO7) as the target pollutant. The photocatalytic experimental results showed that both montmorillonite as a carrier and loaded nanogold could significantly improve the photocatalytic efficiency of g-C 3 N 4 . Under the optimal AuNP doping conditions, the photocatalytic efficiency of the ternary composites was 2.7 times that of g-C 3 N 4 . This study provides a new strategy for the design and development of functional composite photocatalysts for solar environmental clean-up.