Sunlight-induced multifunctional photocatalyst of gold-deposited graphitic carbon nitride with enhanced efficiency of antibacterial, antiviral, and antibiotic degradation

Abstract

Even though graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is a star material in the field of photocatalytic, its further applications have been plagued by the rapid recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. In this work, gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) were designed to overcome these shortcomings by its Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR), thereby enhancing the light absorption of g-C3N4. The research manifests that the introduction of Au NPs improves the photoelectrochemical performance of g-C3N4 under light conditions, leading to the generation of high levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS). AGC (Au/g-C3N4) exhibits superior efficacy against Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus albus), Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli), viruses (Bacteriophage MS2), and degraded antibiotics (tetracycline hydrochloride) with efficient efficiency. This work illustrated that the combination of g-C3N4 and Au NPs could be a promising way to develop high-performance photocatalytic and may shed light on the application of wastewater treatment.