Improved visible light response photocatalytic activity of CuWO4/g-C3N4 nanocomposites for degradation of organic dyes

In this report, the high performance visible light induced photocatalytic performance of CuWO4/g-C3N4 hybrid was photocatalysts by facile hydrothermal method. The structural order of the obtained catalysts was performed through X-ray diffraction and Raman analysis, which exposed the monoclinic phase (JCPDS Card No. 83-0951). The clear sheet like with wrinkle shape and spherical nanoparticles (30-35 nm) was found to be g-C3N4 and CuWO4 samples, which is obtained by SEM and TEM analysis. The g-C3N4 modified CuWO4 sample showed huge surface area (108 m(2) g(-1)) and high porous nature (32.53 nm), which is identified by BET method. The significant reduction in the band gap (2.91-2.33 eV) and suppress the recombination rate of electron-hole pairs was also identified by UV-Vis absorption and Photoluminescence spectra results. The optimized ratio (3:1) of composite sample (CWG3) displayed high photocatalytic activity of RhB such as huge efficiency (95%), high first order kinetics (is 0.0913 min(-1)) and long term stability (loss only 3.2). This might be attributed to the coactions between the CuWO4 nanoparticles over the surface of g-C3N4 nanosheets. Moreover, slighter reduction in the band gap energy and privilege the reduction to the recombination process of electron-hole pairs are the important factors to enhancing the photocatalytic capability of the composite catalysts.