Solar-light-driven ternary MgO/TiO/g-CN heterojunction photocatalyst with surface defects for dinitrobenzene pollutant reduction.

Defect engineering and heterojunction are promising strategies to improve the photocatalytic performance of particular catalyst through effective charge carrier separation and transport. Herein, we developed Z-scheme MgO/TiO/g-CN ternary heterojunction photocatalyst with surface defects and effective charge separation for reduction of recalcitrant dinitrobenzene isomers under simulated solar light irradiation. Mott-Schottky (MS) plot analysis and electron spin resonance (ESR) radical trapping experiment suggested the formation of Z-scheme heterojunction at the interface of TiO/g-CN, which played a crucial role in the electron-hole separation.