Efficient visible-light driven photocatalysts: coupling TiO2(AB) nanotubes with g-C3N4 nanoflakes

The wide application of the titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) as the photocatalysts is greatly hindered by its intrinsic large band gap and usually fast electron–hole recombination. Here, we reported the exploration of coupling g-C 3 N 4 nanoflakes to TiO 2 nanotubes with the anatase and TiO 2 (B) mixed phases (TiO 2 (AB)) toward the efficient visible-light-driven hybrid photocatalyst. It is found that coupling TiO 2 (AB) nanotubes with g-C 3 N 4 nanoflakes could bring a profoundly extension the visible light adsorption capacity and enhanced photogenerated carrier separation. Accordingly, they exhibit much higher efficient photocatalytic activities toward the degradation of sulforhodamine B under the visible light irradiation, which is enhanced for nearly 15 times to those of the TiO 2 (AB) and g-C 3 N 4 , suggesting their promising practical applications as novel and efficient semiconductor photocatalysts for the water purification.