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Portillo-Cortez K, Caudillo-Flores U, Sánchez-López P, Smolentseva E, Dominguez D, Fuentes-Moyado S. Photocatalytic Activity of Ag Nanoparticles Deposited on Thermoexfoliated g-C 3N 4. NANOMATERIALS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2024; 14:623. [PMID: 38607157 PMCID: PMC11013134 DOI: 10.3390/nano14070623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2024] [Revised: 03/28/2024] [Accepted: 03/29/2024] [Indexed: 04/13/2024]
Abstract
The limited access to fresh water and the increased presence of emergent pollutants (EPs) in wastewater has increased the interest in developing strategies for wastewater remediation, including photocatalysis. Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is a 2D non-metal material with outstanding properties, such as a 2.7 eV bandgap and physicochemical stability, making it a promising photocatalyst. This work reports the process of obtaining high-surface-area (SA) g-C3N4 using the thermal-exfoliation process and the posterior effect of Ag-nanoparticle loading over the exfoliated g-C3N4 surface. The photocatalytic activity of samples was evaluated through methylene blue (MB) degradation under visible-light radiation and correlated to its physical properties obtained by XRD, TEM, BET, and UV-Vis analyses. Moreover, 74% MB degradation was achieved by exfoliated g-C3N4 compared to its bulk counterpart (55%) in 180 min. Moreover, better photocatalytic performances (94% MB remotion) were registered at low Ag loading, with 5 wt.% as the optimal value. Such an improvement is attributed to the synergetic effect produced by a higher SA and the role of Ag nanoparticles in preventing charge-recombination processes. Based on the results, this work provides a simple and efficient methodology to obtain Ag/g-C3N4 photocatalysts with enhanced photocatalytic performance that is adequate for water remediation under sunlight conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Uriel Caudillo-Flores
- Centro de Nanociencias y Nanotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ensenada CP 22860, Mexico; (K.P.-C.); (P.S.-L.); (E.S.); (D.D.); (S.F.-M.)
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Saad M, Bahadur A, Iqbal S, Mahmood S, Tayyab M, Alshalwi M, Shah M. Development of stable S-scheme 2D-2D g-C 3N 4/CdS nanoheterojunction arrays for enhanced visible light photomineralisation of nitrophenol priority water pollutants. Sci Rep 2024; 14:2897. [PMID: 38316840 PMCID: PMC10844285 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-52950-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2023] [Accepted: 01/25/2024] [Indexed: 02/07/2024] Open
Abstract
The investigation focused on creating and studying a new 2D-2D S-scheme CdS/g-C3N4 heterojunction photocatalyst. Various techniques examined its structure, composition, and optical properties. This included XRD, XPS, EDS, SEM, TEM, HRTEM, DRS, and PL. The heterojunction showed a reduced charge recombination rate and more excellent stability, helping to lessen photocorrosion. This was due to photogenerated holes moving more quickly out of the CdS valence band. The interface between g-C3N4 and CdS favored a synergistic charge transfer. A suitable flat band potential measurement supported enhanced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in degrading 4-nitrophenol and 2-nitrophenol. This resulted in remarkable degradation efficiency of up to 99% and mineralization of up to 79%. The findings highlighted the practical design of the new 2D-2D S-scheme CdS/g-C3N4 heterojunction photocatalyst and its potential application in various energy and environmental settings, such as pollutant removal, hydrogen production, and CO2 conversion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muhammad Saad
- Centre for Organic and Nanohybrid Electronics, Silesian University of Technology, Konarskiego 22B, 44-100, Gliwice, Poland
- Joint Doctoral School, Silesian University of Technology, Akademicka 2A, 44-100, Gliwice, Poland
- Department of Chemistry, School of Natural Sciences (SNS), National University of Science and Technology (NUST), H-12, Islamabad, 46000, Pakistan
| | - Ali Bahadur
- Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Mathematics, and Technology, Wenzhou-Kean University, Wenzhou, 325060, Zhejiang Province, China.
- Dorothy and George Hennings College of Science, Mathematics and Technology, Kean University, 1000 Morris Ave, Union, NJ, 07083, USA.
| | - Shahid Iqbal
- Nottingham Ningbo China Beacons of Excellence Research and Innovation Institute, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo, 315100, China.
| | - Sajid Mahmood
- Nottingham Ningbo China Beacons of Excellence Research and Innovation Institute, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo, 315100, China
- Functional Materials Group, Gulf University for Science and Technology, 32093, Mishref, Kuwait
| | - Muhammad Tayyab
- Department of Chemical and Life Sciences, Qurtuba University of Science and Information Technology, Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan
| | - Matar Alshalwi
- Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, PO Box 2455, Riyadh, 11541, Saudi Arabia
| | - Mazloom Shah
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Grand Asian University Sialkot, Punjab, Pakistan
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