Photocatalytic degradation of bisphenol-A with g-C3N4/MoS2-PANI nanocomposite: Kinetics, main active species, intermediates and pathways

Abstract

The novel highly porous photocatalyst g-C3N4/MoS2-PANI (polyaniline) is fabricated successfully via an in-situ polymerization and is characterized via UV–vis DRS, FTIR, TGA, SEM, XRD, TEM, XPS and BET. The synergistic effect of MoS2 and g-C3N4 into PANI matrix prompted its outstanding catalytic activities for bisphenol-A (BPA) degradation in liquid solution. The photocatalytic efficiency of the photocatalyst reaches to about 92.66% degradation of BPA that was recorded within 60 min. The scavenger or radical trapping effect supports the role of the photogenerated species and its interaction for the degradation of BPA. The chemical kinetics and possible photocatalytic degradation mechanism were also described and supported theoretical calculation DFT. Moreover, the fabricated nanocomposite exhibits outstanding reusability and shows excellent catalytic activity after six cycles, offering a facile and active process for the treatment of toxic organic pollutants under visible light and that can be used for the environmental remediation.