Growth of uniform g-C3N4 shells on 1D TiO2 nanofibers via vapor deposition approach with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity

In this work, uniform g-C 3 N 4 shells have grown on the surface of electrospinning TiO 2 nanofibers to form one dimensional core/shell structured TiO 2 /g-C 3 N 4 nanofibers by a facial melamine-involved vapor deposition approach. During the heat treatment process in a simple setup, the TiO 2 nanofibers served as supports to prevent the collapses and aggregations of g-C 3 N 4 while forming heterojunctions with g-C 3 N 4 at the interface. The as prepared heterogeneous TiO 2 /g-C 3 N 4 photocatalyst exhibited remarkably enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity for RhB degradation by maxing heterojunctions at the core/shell interface. The photodegradation reaction rate constant of the obtained heterojunction is 0.064 min −1 , which is 4.0 times that of pure g-C 3 N 4 (0.016 min −1 ). To reach higher RhB degradation efficiency (>90%), TiO 2 /g-C 3 N 4 shortened the irradiation time by 60 min compared with individual components (pure g-C 3 N 4 or TiO 2 nanofibers). The remarkably high photocatalytic performances are mainly ascribed to the synergetic effect of efficient photogenerated charge separation properties and decreased electron transfer resistance of the heterojunctions formed between g-C 3 N 4 and TiO 2 . We believe the proposed simple method and setup is an attractive strategy for constructing one dimensional g–C 3 N 4 –based nano-heterojunctions with excellent photocatalytic properties.