Dramatic Activity of C3N4/BiPO4 Photocatalyst with Core/Shell Structure Formed by Self‐Assembly

Abstract Core/shell structured C 3 N 4 /BiPO 4 photocatalyst is fabricated via a facile ultrasonic dispersion method. The thickness of the shell may be controlled by tuning the amount of C 3 N 4 in the dispersion, which determines the enhanced level of photocatalytic activity. The optimum photocatalytic activity of C 3 N 4 /BiPO 4 at a weight ratio of 4% (C 3 N 4 /BiPO 4 ) under UV irradiation is almost 4.5 times as high as that of reference P25 (TiO 2 ) and 2.5 times of BiPO 4 . More attractively, the dramatic visible light photocatalytic activity is generated due to the C 3 N 4 loaded. The enhancement in performance is demonstrated to be the match of lattice and energy level between the C 3 N 4 and BiPO 4 . This match facilitates the separation and transfer of photogenerated electron–hole pairs at the heterojunction interfaces and may be important for other core/shell structured materials. In addition, this method is expected to be extended for other C 3 N 4 loaded materials.