Significantly improved photocatalysis-self-Fenton degradation performance over g-C 3 N 4 via promoting Fe(III)/Fe(II) cycle

Photocatalysis-self-Fenton system, i.e., photocatalytic H 2 O 2 generation and utilization in situ for ·OH radials production to remove organic pollutants with high-fluent degradation and mineralization performance possesses such advantages as cleanliness, efficiency and safety. However, its degradation activity always suffers from the Fe(III)/Fe(II) cycle. For this reason, graphitic carbon interface-modified g-C 3 N 4 (CUCN) was fabricated to remarkably improve photocatalysis-self-Fenton degradation activity. The experiment results indicated that CUCN-2% photocatalyst, in which the loading percentage of graphitic carbon was 2%, demonstrated the optimum degradation performance among all the counterparts. The mineralization degree for RhB in 3 h over CUCN-2% reached 63.77%, nearly 3.35-fold higher than the pristine g-C 3 N 4 . The significantly improved mineralization efficiency was ascribed to the promoted Fe(III)/Fe(II) cycle by photogenerated electrons, which leading to the higher utilization efficiency of H 2 O 2 through Fenton reaction, thereby producing more hydroxyl radicals. It is anticipated that our work could provide new insights for the design of photocatalysis-self-Fenton system with exceptional degradation performance for actual photocatalytic applications. Graphical abstract