Bamboo leaf-assisted formation of carbon/nitrogen co-doped anatase TiO2 modified with silver and graphitic carbon nitride: novel and green synthesis and cooperative photocatalytic activity.

We report a novel synthesis approach employing bamboo leaves as sources of both the C/N dopant and reductant to the formation of C/N co-doped TiO2 modified with Ag and g-C3N4 (Ag/CN-TiO2@g-C3N4). In this case, the ternary composite has a hierarchical structure and a large surface area, which increases the contact area of reactants. Degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) and hydrogen generation were carried out to evaluate the photocatalytic activity of as-prepared samples under visible light irradiation. It is found that with respect to single and binary catalysts, the Ag/CN-TiO2@g-C3N4 ternary composite shows the highest photocatalytic activity (degradation of RhB, H2 evolution from water splitting) as a result of the fast generation, separation and transportation of the photogenerated carriers, which was evidenced by photoluminescence measurements and free radical/hole scavenging experiments. At last, a possible photocatalytic mechanism under visible light irradiation was proposed. The novel and green synergistic approach presented here could provide a facile yet effective method for designing other visible light active non-metal co-doped TiO2 based photocatalysts with enhanced activity and high chemical stability.