Hydrothermal Synthesis of Heterostructured g-C₃N₄/Ag–TiO₂ Nanocomposites for Enhanced Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Pollutants

In this study, heterostructured g-C₃N₄/Ag–TiO₂ nanocomposites were successfully fabricated using an easily accessible hydrothermal route. Various analytical tools were employed to investigate the surface morphology, crystal structure, specific surface area, and optical properties of as-synthesized samples. XRD and TEM characterization results provided evidence of the successful fabrication of the ternary g-C₃N₄/Ag–TiO₂ heterostructured nanocomposite. The heterostructured g-C₃N₄/Ag–TiO₂ nanocomposite exhibited the best degradation efficiency of 98.04% against rhodamine B (RhB) within 180 min under visible LED light irradiation. The g-C₃N₄/Ag–TiO₂ nanocomposite exhibited an apparent reaction rate constant 13.16, 4.7, and 1.33 times higher than that of TiO₂, Ag–TiO₂, and g-C₃N₄, respectively. The g-C₃N₄/Ag–TiO₂ ternary composite demonstrated higher photocatalytic activity than pristine TiO₂ and binary Ag–TiO₂ photocatalysts for the degradation of RhB under visible LED light irradiation. The improved photocatalytic performance of the g-C₃N₄/Ag–TiO₂ nanocomposite can be attributed to the formation of an excellent heterostructure between TiO₂ and g-C₃N₄ as well as the incorporation of Ag nanoparticles, which promoted efficient charge carrier separation and transfer and suppressed the rate of recombination. Therefore, this study presents the development of heterostructured g-C₃N₄/Ag–TiO₂ nanocomposites that exhibit excellent photocatalytic performance for the efficient degradation of harmful organic pollutants in wastewater, making them promising candidates for environmental remediation.