Construction of mesoporous CdO/g-C3N4 nanocomposites for photooxidation of ciprofloxacin under visible light exposure

Abstract

Mesoporous CdO/g-C3N4 nanocomposites have been constructed and applied in the photooxidation of ciprofloxacin (CIP) through illumination by visible light. The nanocomposite exhibits superior efficiency when compared to pure mesoporous CdO or pure g-C3N4. CdO incorporation onto g-C3N4 resulted in uniform dispersion of 7–13 nm onto layered g-C3N4 nanosheets. The photocatalytic CIP oxidation efficiency increased from 35% to 100% within 120 min with the use of 1–4% CdO/g-C3N4 nanocomposites. The photocatalytic CIP oxidation efficiency of the mesoporous 3.0% CdO/g-C3N4 nanocomposite is 4.5- and 10.0-fold greater than that of bare CdO and g-C3N4 nanosheets. Higher efficiency was a result of several factors: a perfect crystalline structure, a high surface area, a narrow bandgap, a mesoporous structure with uniformly dispersed CdO nanoparticles, and Z-scheme photocatalysis. The CdO/g-C3N4 photocatalyst was chemically stable and showed no reduction in efficiency after five applications. The findings exhibit a pathway for the fabrication of new materials that can promote Z-scheme photocatalysis with possible applications in pollutant remediation utilizing minimum energy due to the use of visible light.