Reusable and Flexible g-C₃N₄/Ag₃PO₄/Polyacrylonitrile Heterojunction Nanofibers for Photocatalytic Dye Degradation and Oxygen Evolution

Flexible photocatalysts stand out from numerous photocatalysts because of their foldable, reusable, and mechanically stable properties. Here, g-C3N4/Ag3PO4/PAN nanofibers were prepared by immobilizing Ag3PO4 nanoparticles on electrospun g-C3N4/PAN nanofibers through the room-temperature in situ synthesis method. Compared with g-C3N4/PAN and Ag3PO4/PAN, the g-C3N4/Ag3PO4/PAN nanofibers exhibited better photocatalytic performance. The degradation rates of Rhodamine B and tetracycline hydrochloride of g-C3N4/Ag3PO4/PAN nanofibers were 8.8 and 12.9 times higher than those of g-C3N4/PAN nanofibers, while 3.1 and 6.5 times higher than those of Ag3PO4/PAN nanofibers, respectively. In addition, the oxygen evolution rate of g-C3N4/Ag3PO4/PAN nanofibers was 1.9 times better than that of g-C3N4/PAN and 5.8 times better than that of Ag3PO4/PAN. The improved photocatalytic performance of g-C3N4/Ag3PO4/PAN was likely because of the existence of Z-scheme g-C3N4/Ag3PO4 heterojunction with efficient charge separation. Furthermore, g-C3N4/Ag3PO4/PAN nanofibers had a better photochemical stability than Ag3PO4/PAN, which was probably due to the inhibited of Ag3PO4 photocorrosion by the transfer of electrons from Ag3PO4 to g-C3N4. These photocatalysts could be easily separated and reused due to their extra long nanofibrous mat structures and flexible properties. This work provided a new road to design and fabricate flexible self-supporting photocatalysts for pollutants degradation and energy conversion.