Exciton Dissociation on Double Z-scheme Heterojunction for Photocatalytic Application

Constructing heterojunction is one of the promising approaches to obtain desired photocatalysts with enhanced photocatalytic activity. Herein, we have fabricated a Fe2O3-PrFeO3/g-C3N4 ternary heterostructure by a simple wet chemical method to improve the photocatalytic activity of pristine g-C3N4. The as-prepared catalyst has shown 7.8 times higher photocatalytic degradation of dye acid violet 7 and generated 379.29 mu molL(-1) h(-1) of ammonia under visible-light irradiation. The ternary heterojunction was found to form a double Z-scheme heterojunction that facilitates interfacial electron transfer, promotes the separation of photogenerated charge carriers, and also enhances light harvesting property. The enhanced photocatalytic performance of the catalyst is ascribed to the formation of double Z-scheme heterojunction, which offers low charge transfer resistance thereby lowering the recombination of photoexcitons and increasing the lifetime of photoexcitons.