The Visible Light Photocatalytic H2 Evolution and Degradation Enhancement of G-C3n4/Er:Cdse/Sio2 Ternary Core-Shell Nanoheterojunction with Up-Conversion Fluorescence Auxiliary

Abstract

The g-C3N4/Er:CdSe/SiO2 ternary core-shell nanoheterojunction with up-conversion fluorescence auxiliary is fabricated via a simple chemical-calcination method. As revealed, the g-C3N4/Er:CdSe/SiO2 ternary core-shell nanoheterojunction (g-C3N4/Er:CdSe/SiO2-3) exhibits a remarkable visible light photocatalytic hydrogen evolution and photodegradation TC–HCl enhancement than that of single CdSe (~35 folds of HER, ~2 folds of photodegradation) and single g-C3N4 (~70 folds of HER, ~2 folds of photodegradation), and achieves a decent photocatalytic stability, which can be mainly attributed to that, the SiO2 nanospheres act as optical lens and Er-doping with up-conversion fluorescence can increase solar efficiency, and the formed g-C3N4/Er:CdSe heterojunction with appropriate potential gradient can improve carrier efficiency, including increase transportation, prolong lifetime and decrease recombination. What’s more, the ternary core-shell nanospheres can increase active sites and photocatalytic stability.

Keywords: Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution, Photodegradation, Ternary Core-Shell Heterojunction, Up-Conversion Fluorescence