Highly dispersed molybdenum-embedded polymeric carbon nitride with enhanced photocatalytic activity for degradation of dyes and antibiotics

Abstract The embedding of highly dispersed metal species can effectively enhance the photocatalysis of polymeric carbon nitride. In this work, we chose phosphomolybdic acid as a Mo-containing heteropoly acid precursor and dicyandiamine as a carbon and nitrogen source and prepared Mo-embedded polymeric carbon nitride by a one-step thermal polycondensation method. The Mo species was highly uniformly dispersed in the matrix of polymeric carbon nitride in a hexavalent state. Mo-embedded polymeric carbon nitride achieved the low recombination of photogenerated carriers, the fast photogenerated electron transfer and the large specific surface area. Meanwhile, the embedding of Mo reduced the bandgap of polymeric carbon nitride and increased its valence band position, thereby improving the visible light absorption and oxidation ability. These merits together afforded the high activity of Mo-embedded polymeric carbon nitride in visible light-induced photodegradation of rhodamine B and tetracycline hydrochloride.