g-C3N4(p)/AgCl as photocatalyst for the simultaneous removal of Cr (VI) and methylene blue under visible light irradiation

A g-C3N4(p)/AgCl heterojunction was synthesized by thermal condensation, chemical protonation, and photo-reduction techniques; this material was evaluated for the simultaneous photocatalytic removal of Cr(VI) and methylene blue from water, under visible light irradiation. The presence of both phases in the heterojunction was confirmed by XRD analysis, and FT-IR and XPS techniques were used to study the effect of the interaction be-tween g-C3N4 and HCl during the protonation process. The presence of Ag plasmon and a slight blue shift were observed in the UV-vis spectroscopy and PL analysis, respectively. An important increase in the photocatalytic activity was observed in g-C3N4(p)/AgCl for both reactions, in comparison with bare and protonated g-C3N4, which could be attributed to a lower recombination rate of the e -/h+ pairs.