Facile synthesis route for visible active g-C3N5/MK30 nanocomposite and its computationally guided photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants

Abstract

This study has been reported for the first time on the fabrication of g-C3N5/Montmorillonite K30 (g-C3N5/MK30) nanocomposite, synthesized using a facile technique. Techniques like XRD, FE-SEM, TEM, BET, Zeta-potential, FT-IR, UV–vis DRS, and PL were used to characterize the structure, morphologies, and optical properties of the synthesized nanocomposite. The developed nanocomposite has a layered surface and has a bandgap of 2.5 eV which makes it active in the range of visible light, and it also has a lower rate of recombination than g-C3N5. The experimental factors of the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye utilizing g-C3N5/MK30 were analysed and optimized using the Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The pH, preliminary dye concentration, and photocatalyst dosage were selected as independent variables in the experiment. The observed MB degradation efficiency was reported to be 96.61 % with a dye concentration of 10 ppm, reaction duration of 60 min, and a catalyst dosage of 20 mg. This showed excellent adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of common organic contaminants, methylene blue, amaranth dye, and tetracycline drug, utilizing visible light. This study contributes to the understanding of the design of g-C3N5-based photocatalysts for high-efficiency dye and antibiotic degradation.