Abstract
This study explores the facile, template-free synthesis of S-doped g-C3N4 pinhole nanosheets (SCNPNS) with porous structure for fluorescence sensing of Ag+ ions and visible-light photocatalysis of dyes. As-synthesized SCNPNS samples were characterized by various analytical tools such as XRD, FT-IR, TEM, BET, XPS, and UV–vis spectroscopy. At optimal conditions, the detection linear range for Ag+ was found to be from 0 to 1000 nM, showing the limit of detection (LOD) of 57 nM. The SCNPNS exhibited highly sensitive and selective detection of Ag+ due to a significant fluorescence quenching via photo-induced electron transfer through Ag+–SCNPNS complex. Moreover, the SCNPNS exhibited 90% degradation for cationic methylene blue (MB) dye within 180 min under visible light. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of the SCNPNS was attributed to its negative zeta potential for electrostatic interaction with cationic dyes, and the pinhole porous structure can provide more active sites which can induce faster transport of the charge carrier over the surface. Our SCNPNS is proposed as an environmental safety tool due to several advantages, such as low cost, facile preparation, selective recognition of Ag+ ions, and efficient photocatalytic degradation of cationic dyes under visible light.
Highlights
Environmental pollution has received substantial attention due to rapid industrialization; toxic pollutants such as heavy metals and dyes that are continuously released, posing severe risks to living organisms commonly existing in the environment [1,2,3]
Metal-free S-doped g-C3 N4 pinhole nanosheets (SCNPNS) with porous structure were successfully prepared by a simple heating method using accessible precursors such as urea and thiourea
Various analytical tools confirmed the successful doping of sulfur in g-C3 N4 (i.e., S atoms replaced by lattice N atoms), forming C–S bond in g-C3 N4
Summary
Environmental pollution has received substantial attention due to rapid industrialization; toxic pollutants such as heavy metals and dyes that are continuously released, posing severe risks to living organisms commonly existing in the environment [1,2,3]. 2500 tons of silver have been released into the environment every year because of its wide use in a number of industries, such as agriculture, pharmaceuticals, mirrors, and foods [8]. The selective recognition of Ag+ offers significant advantages so that many different analytical approaches have been investigated [11,12]. Most of these methods have common limitations such as high cost, time consumption, and low sensitivity [13].
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