Plasmon-assisted demolition of antibiotic using sono-photoreduction decoration of Ag on 2D C3N4 nanophotocatalyst enhanced with acid-treated clinoptilolite

Abstract

In this study, the plasmon silver/bulk graphitic carbon nitride-clinoptilolite (denoted as: Ag/BCN-CLT) nanophotocatalysts synthesized using sono-photoreduction dispersion of Ag over C3N4 nanophotocatalyst with various contents of acid-treated clinoptilolite (10, 20, 40 wt%) that was employed in the tetracycline degradation, as the model antibiotic pollutant, using simulated solar-light radiation. X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy-Dot mapping, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller and Barrett-Joyner-Halenda, particle size distribution, and Ultraviolet–Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy analyses results showed a high quality of synthesis of nanophotocatalysts and good dispersion of particles on the surface of nanophotocatalyst. Using photodegradation results, the Ag/BCN-CLT(10) sample with 10 wt% of clinoptilolite showed a better tetracycline degradation efficiency (87.23%), which is a result of a high surface area of nanophotocatalyst due to the exerting sonication in synthesis procedure. Also, using Ag nanoparticles as a noble metal and creation of surface plasmon resonance effect, the edge of light absorption was shifted to the visible light region, which was proven by UV–Vis DRS results. Furthermore, the using of both Ag and acid-treated clinoptilolite had an efficient influence on decreasing band gap energy position. At last, the effect of different operational parameters and the reusable property of the photocatalyst have experimented. Finally, the suggested mechanisms of the tetracycline degradation reactions were drawn and were analyzed accurately.