Systematic Investigation for the Photocatalytic Applications of Carbon Nitride/Porous Zeolite Heterojunction

Abstract

Here, we present the integration of a commercially available titanosilicate zeolite with photocatalyst graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) toward the development of an effective heterojunction photocatalyst, TCN­(1-8-8). The formation of this porous heterojunction and its structural details have been confirmed by X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption, electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The visible light absorption and band structure have been determined from diffused reflectance ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy. For its fabrication, the contents of both the constituent materials have been optimized systematically. Its photocatalytic activity has been found to be impressive in the visible light-assisted degradation of a variety of water pollutants (dyes and antibiotics) and in the hydroxylation of phenol. Control experiments, radical scavenging/trapping experiments, influence of the reaction environment, and photoelectrochemical measurements have been carried out to establish the structure–activity relationship and the plausible reaction mechanisms. The various fragmented products, formed during the degradation of parent molecules, have been further confirmed using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry analysis. The photocatalytic degradation of 98, 96, 95, and 92%; rate constants of 0.0125, 0.01244, 0.0058, and 0.0040 min–1; and reduction of total organic concentrations of 63, 59, 57, and 55% for rhodamine B, sulforhodamine B, tetracycline, and ciprofloxacin have been achieved in 6 h, respectively. The activity of TCN­(1-8-8) has been observed to be better than the state-of-the-art photocatalyst TiO2 (Degussa P25). Besides, it has also exhibited excellent degradation activity in natural solar light. The effective adsorption of pollutant molecules over the active surface, efficient charge separation at the interface, migration and retardation of charge carriers recombination process, and tailored charge-carrier dynamics in the excited state have all been identified as reasons for the higher activity. This study, therefore, provides a comprehensive and systematic grasp on the development of an economical catalyst for photocatalytic hydroxylation reaction and wastewater treatment.

Unveiling the enhanced photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic properties of reduced graphene oxide for photodegradation of methylene blue dye

“…54 The E CB of G-0 and G-2 were negative enough to carry out the reduction O 2 to cO 2 À radical (À0. 28 Hence, it was proposed that the main mechanism for G-0 and G-2 to photodegrade MB dye were through the photogenerated h + and cO 2 À radical.…”

“…To conrm and measure the ability of a photocatalyst to carry out photocatalytic degradation of dye, a series of photoelectrochemical (PEC) measurements were oen deployed. [26][27][28][29] Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, the PEC measurement techniques have not been used to examine the photocatalytic degradation ability of GO/rGO photocatalysts for dye photodegradation yet. In this study, rGO was synthesized via autoclave solvothermal reduction from GO to photodegrade MB dye under UV light illumination.…”

In situ growth of hierarchical phase junction CdS on a H-mordenite zeolite for enhanced photocatalytic properties

“…Yang et al 9 have supported iron tetra(2,3-bis(butylthio)maleonitrile)porphyrazine (FePz (SBU) 8 ) on H-ZSM-5 zeolite to prepare H-ZSM-5/FePz(SBu) 8 materials with photocatalytic activity and selectivity of glucose, which can realize the selective conversion of products under visible light, and the material has certain stability. Rajendra Srivastava 10 prepared visible light catalytic materials with a TS-1/g-C 3 N 4 heterojunction by coupling TitanoSilicate (TS-1) zeolite with carbon nitride. The photodegradation properties of the material for a range of dyes and antibiotics are better than those of commercial nano TiO 2 (P25).…”

Rose-like Bi2WO6 Nanostructure for Visible-Light-Assisted Oxidation of Lignocellulose-Derived 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural and Vanillyl Alcohol

“…In the last few years, various semiconductor photocatalytic materials have been fabricated for HMF transformation to DFF and FDCA, − employing a complex catalyst system, which achieves low selectivity of the desired product. Several semiconductor heterojunction photocatalysts have been fabricated to achieve an excellent activity in catalysis and dye degradation, − but only a few photocatalysts have been documented for the photocatalytic conversion of VOL to VAL, which are associated with low VOL conversion and selectivity of VAL. Various heterogeneous photocatalytic materials based on TiO 2 , NiFe 2 O 4 , ZnFe 2 O 4 , CeO 2 , and ZrO 2 and catalysts involving noble metals have been reported for VOL to VAL transformation, − but there is still a need for methods associated with effective oxidation of HMF and VOL, with high product selectivity under mild photocatalytic reaction conditions, using a simple photocatalyst.…”