Construction of Ag decorated P-doped g-C3N4 nanosheets Schottky junction via silver mirror reaction for enhanced photocatalytic activities

Abstract The construction of highly efficient hybrid structure photocatalysts for hydrogen evolution and photocatalytic decomposition is considered an excellent choice for clean energy production and environmental remediation. Herein, Ag decorated P-doped g-C3N4 nanosheets (Ag-(P/CNNS)) Schottky junction was successfully constructed via a two-step calcination process and silver mirror reaction. The visible-light photocatalytic activities for hydrogen evolution from water splitting and degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) over Ag-(P/CNNS) are distinctly enhanced, which is 5.3 and 1.6 times that of bulk g-C3N4 (BCN), respectively. The significantly improved performance is attributed to the synergistic effect, including lamellar configuration of g-C3N4 nanosheets (CNNS), the substitution of partial C atoms by P, the plasma resonance effect (SPR) of metal Ag and the Schottky junction between Ag and P/CNNS. This work proposes a simple approach to design and develop g-C3N4 based materials.