Abstract
The transfer of heterogeneous photocatalysis applications from the laboratory to real-life aqueous systems is challenging due to the higher density of photocatalysts compared to water, light attenuation effects in water, complicated recovery protocols, and metal pollution from metal-based photocatalysts. In this work, we overcome these obstacles by developing a buoyant Pickering photocatalyst carrier based on green cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) derived from wood. The air bubbles in the carrier were stable because the particle surfactants provided thermodynamic stability and the derived photocatalytic foams floated on water throughout the test period (4 weeks). A metal-free semiconductor photocatalyst, g-C3N4, was facilely embedded inside the foam by mixing the photocatalyst with the air-bubble suspension followed by casting and drying to produce solid foams. When tested under mild irradiation conditions (visible light, low energy LEDs) and no agitation, almost three times more dye was removed after 6 h for the floating g-C3N4–CNF nanocomposite foam, compared to the pure g-C3N4 powder residing on the bottom of a ca. 2 cm-high water pillar. The buoyancy and physicochemical properties of the carrier material were imperative to render escalated oxygenation, high photon utilization, and faster dye degradation. The reported assembly protocol is facile, general, and provides a new strategy for assembling green floating foams that can potentially carry a number of different photocatalysts.
Highlights
The recent water assessment study indicates that 50% of the current world population is likely to live in a water-stressed area by 2023.1 UNESCO has frequently reiterated in its reports that around 80% of the global wastewaters are liberated into our natural surroundings without any appropriate refinement.[2,3] Among the pollutants identified and studied so far, the textile industries are contemplated as the highest generators of waste streams responsible for water pollution
We report a facile method for the incorporation of the semiconductor g-C3N4 photocatalyst in a cellulose nanofiber (CNF)-based foam
(600 °C) was employed, similar to that previously reported in the literature, because it is known to facilitate in the formation of g-C3N4.27 The X-ray diffraction (XRD) diffractogram and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrum of the carbon nitride powder confirmed the basic structure of g
Summary
The recent water assessment study indicates that 50% of the current world population is likely to live in a water-stressed area by 2023.1 UNESCO has frequently reiterated in its reports that around 80% of the global wastewaters are liberated into our natural surroundings without any appropriate refinement.[2,3] Among the pollutants identified and studied so far, the textile industries are contemplated as the highest generators of waste streams responsible for water pollution. About 280,000 tons of textile dyes are released per annum pandemically.[4] These chemicals (and their degradation products) possess dreadful properties like carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, and teratogenicity Their presence in water streams strikingly decrease the dissolved oxygen levels and eventually increase the chemical and biochemical oxygen demand. They impact our natural ecosystems in all possible dimensions.[5]
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