Preparation of P-coupled g-C₃N₄/TiO₂ photoanode and its photoelectrocatalytic degradation of sulfadiazine

College of Geology and Environment, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China

^* Corresponding author: xhgdys@yeah.net

Abstract

In order to solve the problems of TiO₂ bandgap width and low utilization rate of light energy, red phosphorus which can absorb visible light is introduced, which is complementary to the characteristics of TiO₂ which mainly absorb ultraviolet light. The introduction of red phosphorus is expected to broaden the light response range of the photoelectrode to the visible region, thereby improving the efficiency of sunlight utilization. TiO₂ was modified by red phosphorus sublimation precipitation. The joint introduction of P and g-C₃N₄ not only broadened the photoresponse range of TiO₂, extended the visible light absorption range to 460nm, improved the light absorption efficiency, but also promoted the effective separation and transmission of charge, thus greatly improving the degradation efficiency of SD up to 90.28%. ꞏOH, h⁺ and ꞏO^2- were the main active species of SD degradation, in which ꞏOH played a key role.