Abstract
Photocatalysis is an attractive strategy for emerging pollutants remediation. Research towards the development of new, efficient and effective catalytic materials with high activity under wide irradiation spectra is a highly active sector in material science. Various semiconductor materials have been employed as photocatalysts, including TiO2, SrTiO3, CdS, BiVO4, Ta3N5, TaON, Ag3PO4, and g-C3N4. The latter is a metal-free, low cost polymer, providing high adsorption and catalytic properties, shown to be promising for photocatalysis applications under visible light. Furthermore, g-C3N4 composites are among the most promising advanced photocatalytical materials that can be produced by green synthesis processes. In this paper, the state-of-the-art of g-C3N4 applications is reviewed, and application perspectives are discussed. Photocatalysis tests with g-C3N4 under Xenon irradiation were performed to gather first-hand information to improve photoreactor design. Xenon light spectrum appears to be a suitable radiation source to replace direct sunlight in engineered pollutants removal processes catalyzed by g-C3N4, in lieu of other currently used heterogeneous photocatalysis processes (e.g., TiO2-UV). LED sources are also very promising due to higher energy efficiency and customizable, catalyzer-specific irradiation spectra.
Highlights
IntroductionWater and wastewater treatment processes are quite energy and emission intensive [1]
Accepted: 24 November 2021The search for energy-efficient pollutant degradation strategies has a prominent role to sustainably address many current environmental problems, especially relating to the elimination of emerging contaminants
First observed as the “Honda–Fujishima effect”, which consists of photo-electrochemical water splitting in the presence of TiO2, heterogeneous photocatalysis has originated an important class of processes for environmental remediation, disinfection, energy production, and synthesis of organic compounds
Summary
Water and wastewater treatment processes are quite energy and emission intensive [1]. Photocatalysis has been the focus of considerable attention in recent years, and has been applied in a variety of processes across a broad range of industrial fields, including environmental pollutants remediation. First observed as the “Honda–Fujishima effect”, which consists of photo-electrochemical water splitting in the presence of TiO2 , heterogeneous photocatalysis has originated an important class of processes for environmental remediation, disinfection, energy production, and synthesis of organic compounds. The process, often proposed for the removal of persistent contaminants that cannot be degraded by conventional means, is usually classified as an Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP), a class of processes based on the production of strong oxidative radicals capable of degrading organic molecules in solution. As photocatalysis is able to oxidize, and to reduce dissolved components, it should be considered an Advanced Oxidation/Reduction Process (AORP) [2]
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