Low temperature fabrication of Fe2O3 nanorod film coated with ultra-thin g-C3N4 for a direct z-scheme exerting photocatalytic activities

Abstract

We engineered high aspect ratio Fe2O3 nanorods (with an aspect ratio of 17 : 1) coated with g-C3N4 using a sequential solvothermal method at very low temperature followed by a thermal evaporation method. Here, the high aspect ratio Fe2O3 nanorods were directly grown onto the FTO substrate under relatively low pressure conditions. The g-C3N4 was coated onto a uniform Fe2O3 nanorod film as the heterostructure, exhibiting rational band conduction and a valence band that engaged in surface photoredox reactions by a direct z-scheme mechanism. The heterostructures, particularly 0.75g-C3N4@Fe2O3 nanorods, exhibited outstanding photocatalytic activities compared to those of bare Fe2O3 nanorods. In terms of 4-nitrophenol degradation, 0.75g-C3N4@Fe2O3 nanorods degraded all of the organic pollutant within 6 h under visible irradiation at a kinetic constant of 12.71 × 10−3 min−1, about 15-fold more rapidly than bare Fe2O3. Further, the hydrogen evolution rate was 37.06 μmol h−1 g−1, 39-fold higher than that of bare Fe2O3. We suggest that electron and hole pairs are efficiently separated in g-C3N4@Fe2O3 nanorods, thus accelerating surface photoreaction via a direct z-scheme under visible illumination.