Ternary Hybrid Aerogels of g‐C3N4/α‐Fe2O3 on a 3D Graphene Network: An Efficient and Recyclable Z‐Scheme Photocatalyst

A Z‐scheme graphitic carbon nitride (g‐C3N4)/α‐Fe2O3 has been incorporated into a three‐dimensional porous graphene aerogel. Graphene aerogels are a promising framework in their use for practical photocatalysis by abundant reaction sites, efficient mass transport of reactants and recyclability through their free‐standing framework. At the same time, Z‐scheme charge transfer among g‐C3N4, α‐Fe2O3, and conductive graphene inhibits the rapid recombination of the photoinduced electrons and holes. Ternary g‐C3N4/α‐Fe2O3/graphene aerogels (CNFGA) showed significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity which demonstrated 4.75 times greater methylene blue degradation and 17.5 times higher photocurrent density than those of exfoliated g‐C3N4 under visible light. In addition, CNFGA exhibited a robust photostability with a simple recovery method while showing only a ca. 2 % decrease in photocatalytic performance after five cycles. These results suggest that this ternary Z‐scheme photocatalyst based on a graphene aerogel has potential use in practical photocatalysis for various environmental applications. Fantastic framework: Aerogels comprising g‐C3N4/α‐Fe2O3 on three‐dimensional graphene network are efficient and recyclable Z‐scheme photocatalysts. The aerogels possess efficient light harvesting properties and large surface areas. They also show significantly high photocurrent density and photocatalytic dye degradation activity, and are stable over five cycles.