Mesoporous single-crystal-based TiO2 microspheres decorated by carbon nitride for obviously improved photocatalytic performance and recyclability

A novel porous TiO2 (PT) with mesoporous single-crystal-based microsphere morphology has been synthesized by a hard-template method and then decorated by graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4, CN) nanosheets. The prepared composites (CN/PT) exhibit improved photocatalytic activity in degradation of methylene blue (MB) compared to nonporous bulk TiO2 (BT), PT and g-C3N4, and much better recyclability than commercial P25 TiO2. The enhancement of photocatalytic activity of composites can be attributed to the increased active sites on PT surfaces, and the Z-scheme heterojunction promoting charge separation of photogenerated carriers.