Synthesis and Characterization of Efficient ZnO/g-C3N4 Nanocomposites Photocatalyst for Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue

We examine the photocatalytic activity (PCA) of ZnO/graphitic carbon nitride g-C3N4 (g-CN) composite material for methylene blue (MB) degradation under visible-light irradiation (VLI). The polymeric g-CN materials were fabricated by the pyrolysis of urea and thiourea. More importantly, ZnO/g-CN nano...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Coatings (Basel) 2020-05, Vol.10 (5), p.500
Main Authors: Ngullie, Renathung C., Alaswad, Saleh O., Bhuvaneswari, Kandasamy, Shanmugam, Paramasivam, Pazhanivel, Thangavelu, Arunachalam, Prabhakarn
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Carbon
Carbon nitride
Catalytic activity
Composite materials
Current carriers
Energy storage
Fourier transforms
Graphene
Infrared spectroscopy
Light irradiation
Metal oxides
Methylene blue
Nanocomposites
Nanoparticles
Photocatalysis
Photocatalysts
Photodegradation
Polymer matrix composites
Pyrolysis
Semiconductors
Zinc oxide
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Summary:We examine the photocatalytic activity (PCA) of ZnO/graphitic carbon nitride g-C3N4 (g-CN) composite material for methylene blue (MB) degradation under visible-light irradiation (VLI). The polymeric g-CN materials were fabricated by the pyrolysis of urea and thiourea. More importantly, ZnO/g-CN nanostructured composites were fabricated by adding the different mounts (60, 65, 70, and 75 wt.%) of g-CN into ZnO via the simple hydrothermal process. Among fabricated composites, the 75% ZnO/g-CN nanocomposites displayed a superior PCA for MB degradation, which were ~three-fold an enhancement over the pure ZnO nanoparticles. The fabricated materials have been evaluated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and electron microscopy. More importantly, the photodegradation of MB could get 98% in ZnO/g-CN could be credited to efficient separation of photo-induced charge carriers between ZnO and g-CN. Also, the recycling efficiency of the as-prepared composites was studied for multiple cycles, which shows that the photocatalysts are stable and suitable to carry out photocatalytic degradation in the logistic mode. Additionally, the probable photocatalytic mechanism has also discussed. The synthetic procedure of ZnO/g-CN based materials can be used in numerous fields such as environmental and in energy storage applications.
ISSN:2079-6412
2079-6412
DOI:10.3390/coatings10050500