Extremely Interfacial Bonding and Photocatalytic Environmental Remediation on Amouphous-Tio 2 /G-C 3 N 4 Heterojunctions by Mechanochemical Synthesis

TiO 2 /g-C 3 N 4 composites have emerged as the most potent alternative for green photocatalysis, but are plagued by low photoactivity due to poor interfacial bonding. Herein, we report a straightforward mechanical ball milling method to fabricate an amorphous TiO 2 /g-C 3 N 4 heterojunction. EPR, XPS and XAFS are used to prove that the N atoms of g-C 3 N 4 was successfully doped into the crystal lattice of Am-TiO 2 and formed typical Ti & sdot;& sdot;& sdot; N structure. The obtained 30-AT/CN (30 wt% g-C 3 N 4 ) composites can form more heterojunction interfacial bonds and extremely improve the separation of charge carriers, showing superior photocatalytic reduction performance of perrhenate (non-radioactive chemical substitute for pertechnetate) and higher photochemical degradation rate of rhodamine B than the bulk counterpart. The material has a progressive Z-scheme heterojunction (S-scheme heterojunction), which increases the transfer ability and prolongs the lifetime of the photogenerated charge carriers. These results suggest a wide range of applications in the preparation method of heterojunction photocatalysts that are potential candidates for environmental remediation.