A facile preparation of g-C₃N₄/a-Fe₂O₃/TiO₂ composite and its photocatalysis performance on the degradation of DNT/TNT under simulated sunlight

Abstract

It has been difficult to solve the environmental problems caused by trinitrotoluene(TNT)/dinitrotoluene(DNT) containing explosive wastewater for decades. The advanced oxidation method based on photocatalysis and hydrogen peroxide has gained considerable popularity in the field of pollutant degradation. In order to find a coping strategy, using a simple method involving obtaining g-C3N4/Fe2O3(CNFe) by two-step calcination and then mixing butyl titanate and CNFe through a sol-gel pathway, a type of low-cost g-C3N4/Fe2O3/TiO2(CNFeTi) ternary composite was prepared and then characterized by SEM-EDS, IR, Raman spectroscopy, XRD, XPS, UV-vis, etc. Using the prepared CNFeTi as catalyst, the effects of the amount of catalyst and H2O2 dosage on the photocatalytic degradation of DNT/TNT in aqueous solution have been investigated under simulated sunlight, with the reaction being tracked by UV-vis spectrophotometer. And from the results it was shown to have excellent photocatalytic performance. Under the conditions of 1.0 g·L−1 H2O2, 3.0 g·L−1 C3N4/Fe2O3/TiO2, 15 A current intensity of a Xenon light source and natural pH, 95% DNT and 91% TNT were removed after 30 min irradiation, indicating the proposed system has a high degradation rate. The CNFeTi catalyst could be reused at least five times and exhibited good stability.