Ultrasonic synthesis of g-C3N4/CdS composites and their photodegradation, catalytic reduction, antioxidant and antimicrobial studies

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe g-C3N4 nanosheets, CdS NPs, and g-C3N4/CdS composite were fabricated using sonochemical method for the efficient photocatalytic degradation of CV dye, MCP pesticide and catalytic reduction of 4-NP using NaBH4 as a reducing agent. The synthesized nanocatalysts were characterized by various physicochemical techniques. The g-C3N4/CdS composite was capably degradation of CV and MCP, and catalyze the reduction of 4-NP to 4-AP in the presence of NaBH4 very efficiently with good recyclability up to five cycles than g-C3N4 and CdS NPs. Further, the temperature effect on the catalytic reduction of 4-NP using g-C3N4/CdS composites was also studied. The catalytic reduction reaction follows the pseudo-first-order kinetics. The corresponding rate constants increased with the temperature, revealing activation energy of 26.42 kJ/mol. The scavenging radicals from the antioxidant activity of the synthesized composites were determined by DPPH method. In addition, the synthesized composites showed good antibacterial and antifungal activities using paper disc method.