Enhancement in photocatalytic response of inorganic-organic BiVO<inf>4</inf>/C<inf>3</inf>N<inf>4</inf> composite system

We explored the photocatalytic degradation of industrial dye methylene blue extensively using inorganic BiVO4 - organic graphitic carbon nitride (C3N4) composite material system. The composite BiVO4/C3N4 is synthesized and X-ray diffraction confirmed the presence of both monoclinic BiVO4 and graphitic carbon nitride in composite material. The vibration mode at 805 cm-1 supports the presence of triazine ring in carbon nitride. We observed degradation of methylene blue in 300 and 135 min using BiVO4 and C3N4 materials independently. The investigated BiVO4/C3N4 composite photocatalyst showed drastic enhancement in photoresponse and about 60% degradation of methylene blue is observed in initial 15 min after irradiating light, whereas complete degradation is observed in about 60 min. The enhanced photocatalytic response is attributed to modified electronic properties of the inorganic BiVO4 - organic graphitic C3N4 composite system.