Barium-doped ceria-fabricated graphitic carbon nitride (BDC/g-C3N4) nanomaterial as improved photocatalyst for efficient vitiation of organic dyes from industrial effluents

Abstract

The entire humanity is facing the severe effects of pollution on land, air and water. For matter of consideration, one of the most adverse consequences of pollution is water pollution, being hazardous to human life and all other organisms on earth. In order to preserve water supplies for future generations, it is imperative that contaminated water be planned for and treated into a useable state. The vitiation of organic dyes eluted from industries and drained in water reserves is the prior work being done these days. In this research, noxious dyes have been photo catalytically degraded using synthesized novel barium doped ceria based graphitic carbon nitride (BDC/g-C3N4) nanomaterial. The characterization of synthesized material is done using XRD, SEM, EDX, BET and UV tests. The XRD results indicates the successful incorporation of BDC with average crystallite size of 23.7 nm. The BET results confirm the improved surface area of BDC/g-C3N4 of 184 m2g−1 as compared to BDC and g-C3N4. The Phenol Red (PR) and Methylene Blue (MB) dyes are chosen for studying degradation efficiency using BDC/g-C3N4 nanomaterial. It is observed that BDC is capable to remove 45.26/54.01% of MB/PR dyes while the prepared material BDC/g-C3N4 exhibited 57.71/71.26% results. For confirmation of main agent responsible for degrading dyes, scavengers test has been performed too and it is evident that hydroxyl radicals are responsible for degrading these organic dyes. This work will be guiding stone for the removal of pollutants from water using hybrid BDC/g-C3N4 nanomaterials on industrial scale owing to its cheaper, feasible and efficient performance in lesser time.