Reduced graphene oxide–mediated graphitic carbon nitride/SnO2 ordered nanocomposites for enhanced photocatalytic performance

Recently, graphitic carbon nitride (CN), with its two-dimensional morphology, has attracted attention for its non-toxicity, high thermal and chemical stability, rational photocatalytic performance, visible-light-active bandgap, and cost-effectiveness. However, particularly in photocatalytic studies, undesired charge recombination in pristine CN limits its photocatalytic efficacy. To suppress charge recombination, a simple, facile, and economical in situ technique was used to synthesize a CN/rGO/SnO 2 ternary photocatalyst. The in situ-constructed ternary nanocomposite demonstrates a tightly coupled heterojunction, in which rGO serves as an efficient electron mediator and reservoir, enabling efficient charge migration and multistep electron transfer while suppressing the charge recombination rate. Thus, the optimal ternary photocatalyst achieves the highest H 2 production rate of 860 µmol h −1 g −1 and 95.1% methylene blue dye degradation within 120 min. Various characterization techniques were performed to study the in situ constructed CN/rGO/SnO 2 photocatalyst in depth. The synthesized nanocomposite effectively addresses the interfacial limitations of conventionally assembled systems, contributing to enhanced photogenerated charge migration and photocatalytic activity. Hence, this work reports the facile and cost-effective synthesis of a high-efficiency ternary heterojunction photocatalyst, emphasizing the synergistic roles of its components in H 2 production and dye degradation.