Abstract
The visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of Bisphenol A (BPA) was investigated using the binary composite of alkaline treated g-C3N4 (HT-g-C3N4) deposited over commercial TiO2 (Evonik Degussa GmbH, Essen, Germany). The existence and contribution of both TiO2 and g-C3N4/HT-g-C3N4 in the composite was confirmed through various analytical techniques including powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-vis-DRS), and photoluminescence (PL) analysis. The results showed that the titania in the binary composite exhibited both pure rutile and anatase phases. The morphological analysis indicated that the spongy “morel-like” structure of g-C3N4 turned to nanotube form after alkaline hydrothermal treatment and thereby decreased the specific surface area of HT-g-C3N4. The low surface area of HT-g-C3N4 dominates its promising optical property and effective charge transfer, resulting in a deprived degradation efficiency of BPA two times lower than pure g-C3N4. The binary composite of HT-g-C3N4/TiO2 exhibited excellent degradation efficiency of BPA with 2.16 times higher than the pure HT-g-C3N4. The enhanced photocatalytic activity was mainly due to the promising optical band gap structure with heterojunction interface, favorable specific surface area, and good charge separation.
Highlights
Since the breakthrough discovery of photocatalytic splitting of water with titanium dioxide (TiO2 )electrodes by Fujishima and Honda [1], TiO2 is widely used owing to its outstanding properties such as wide band gap, low cost, environmental-friendliness, non-toxicity, high photocatalytic capability, and high chemical stability [2,3]
The spongy “morel-like” structure in Figure 1a reveals that the synthesized g-C3 N4 possesses a high specific surface area
The alkaline hydrothermal treatment transformed the porous nanostructured of g-C3 N4 to clustered nanotubes geometry with lower specific surface area (Figure 1b)
Summary
Since the breakthrough discovery of photocatalytic splitting of water with titanium dioxide (TiO2 )electrodes by Fujishima and Honda [1], TiO2 is widely used owing to its outstanding properties such as wide band gap, low cost, environmental-friendliness, non-toxicity, high photocatalytic capability, and high chemical stability [2,3]. Materials 2017, 10, 28 charge recombination and poor conductivity of g-C3 N4 are the main factors that have restricted its photocatalytic performance [7]. These limitations can be overcome through a modified structure of g-C3 N4 to one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures (wires, tubes, rods, belts, fibers, etc.). They possess excellent properties like field emissions, gas sensing, photoconductivity, and phonon and electron transport properties since they possess a high surface to-volume ratio and more active sites [8]
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