Photocatalytic degradation of real industrial poultry wastewater via platinum decorated BiVO4/g-C3N4 photocatalyst under solar light irradiation

Abstract

The discharge of a high concentration of contaminants from industrial poultry wastewater has caused a major catastrophic towards environmental remediation. Herein, different amounts of platinum nanoparticles were successfully incorporated into Pt@BiVO4/g-C3N4 photocatalyst via wet-impregnation technique. The crystallographic, morphological and optical properties of the photocatalysts were comprehensively analysis via several characterization techniques. The photocatalytic degradation performance of Pt@BiVO4/g-C3N4 photocatalyst was evaluated using real industrial poultry wastewater under solar light irradiation. The effects of the pH wastewater and the amount of platinum loading were systematically studied using response surface methodology (RSM). The Pt@BiVO4/g-C3N4 photocatalyst prepared at 1.5 wt. % platinum with the pH of 8 exhibited superior photodegradation performance with 93.5% rate of COD removal within 3 h. The FESEM micrograph analysis suggested that the intimate contact between Pt, BiVO4, and g-C3N4 in the as-developed photocatalyst allows a smooth migration and separation of photogenerated charge carriers. In addition, the XRD, EDX and XPS analysis further confirmed the successful formation of the as-prepared Pt@BiVO4/g-C3N4 photocatalyst. Moreover, the as-prepared photocatalyst showed very good recyclability and photostability up to 3 cycles, indicating that the as-developed photocatalyst successfully inhibits the fast recombination rate between photogenerated charge carriers. This work serves as solid evidence of the photocatalyst technology readiness to be put in the real practical application in treating the industrial wastewater.