Photocatalytic degradation study of methylene blue using carbon quantum dots synthesized from coconut husk

Abstract

In this work, a facile and one-step hydrothermal method has been followed for the synthesis of undoped carbon quantum dots (UCQDs) and N-doped carbon quantum dots (NCQDs) from naturally available coconut husk. Coconut husk is a biowaste and abundant in nature, and hence its reusability is a topic of interest. We have investigated the optical properties and photocatalytic behaviour towards methylene blue dye (MB) degradation of CQDs derived from coconut husk under white light irradiation. Also, the photocatalytic behaviour in the different pH of MB dye is studied. Our study revealed that NCQDs perform as a better photocatalyst that could degrade 94% of MB dye within 150 min and show uniform performance in the pH range from 3 to 10.