Facile synthesis of exfoliated graphitic carbon nitride for photocatalytic degradation of ciprofloxacin under solar irradiation

• Published in: Journal of materials science 2019-04, Vol.54 (7), p.5726-5742
• Main Authors: Pattnaik, Sambhu Prasad, Behera, Arjun, Martha, Satyabadi, Acharya, Rashmi, Parida, Kulamani
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aqueous solutions; Carbon nitride; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Ciprofloxacin; Classical Mechanics; Crystallography and Scattering Methods; Current carriers; EDTA; Exfoliation corrosion; Irradiation; Materials for Life Sciences; Materials Science; Nanoparticles; Nitrides; Photocatalysis; Photocatalysts; Photodegradation; Polymer Sciences; Solid Mechanics; Surface area
• ISSN: 0022-2461; 1573-4803
• DOI: 10.1007/s10853-018-03266-x

Exfoliated g-C 3 N 4 nanoparticles prepared by a green route (an aqueous bi-thermal method) were characterized by techniques such as XRD, UV-VDRS, FESEM, PL, TEM. Degradation of an aqueous solution of ciprofloxacin (CPN), when exposed to solar irradiation in the presence of g-C 3 N 4 nanoparticles, was studied to evaluate the photocatalytic activities of semiconductor photocatalyst. The photocatalytic activities of g-C 3 N 4 have enhanced after its exfoliation. The exfoliated g-C 3 N 4 obtained with the aqueous bi-thermal method provided about three times the large surface area and about two and half times effective photocatalyst as bulk g-C 3 N 4 . The results of electrochemical tests like linear sweep voltammetry, MS graphs of exfoliated g-C 3 N 4 nanoparticles together with electrochemical impendence (EIS) corroborated the results of photocatalytic activities of g-C 3 N 4 after exfoliation. The enhanced photocatalytic behavior of exfoliated g-C 3 N 4 is the result of its efficient separation, low recombination of photogenerated charge carriers and high surface area. The effects of exfoliated g-C 3 N 4 catalyst concentration, irradiation time and initial CPN concentration on the degradation of CPN were carefully studied. We found that 1 g/L nano-exfoliated g-C 3 N 4 can degrade up to 78% a 20 ppm CPN solution exposed to solar light for 1 h. The studies also incorporated scavenger tests to possibly identify reactive species and mechanism for CPN degradation. This work provided a new method for scalable exfoliation of g-C 3 N 4 .