Melamine vapor-derived synthesis of UiO-66@ultrathin carbon nitride layer as high-performance photocatalysts

Abstract A melamine vapor-derived method is developed to fabricate UiO-66@g-C3N4, where the beneficial features of g-C3N4 and UiO-66 could be well combined and displayed. The resultant composite has an ultrathin g-C3N4 layer coating (~2 nm) and interfacial bonding, and exhibits an improved photocatalytic performance for tetracycline degradation as compared to pristine UiO-66. The melamine vapor synthesized sample can degrade 47.8 ppm tetracycline under 2 h illumination, which is almost twice than that of pristine UiO-66 (25.8 ppm). The enhanced performance closely relates to the desirable textural and chemical properties of UiO-66@g-C3N4, all of which benefit from the melamine vapor-derived synthesis.