Sunlight active cellulose/g-C 3 N 4 /TiO 2 nano-photocatalyst for simultaneous degradation of methylene blue dye and atenolol drug in real wastewater.
Anushka GargAnjali ChauhanCharu AgnihotriBhim Pratap SinghVasundhara MondemAkansha MehtaShekhar AgnihotriPublished in: Nanotechnology (2023)
The paper critically addresses two contemporary environmental challenges, the water crisis and the unrestricted discharge of organic pollutants in waterways together. An eco-friendly method was used to fabricate a cellulose/g-C 3 N 4 /TiO 2 photocatalytic composite that displayed a remarkable degradation of methylene blue dye and atenolol drug under natural sunlight. Introducing graphitic carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4 ) onto pristine TiO 2 improved hybrid material's photonic efficacy and enhanced interfacial charge separation. Furthermore, immobilizing TiO 2 /g-C 3 N 4 on a semi-interpenetrating cellulose matrix promoted photocatalyst recovery and its reuse, ensuring practical affordability. Under optimized conditions, the nano-photocatalyst exhibited ~95% degradation of both contaminants within two hours while retaining ~55% activity after ten cycles demonstrating a promising photostability. The nano-photocatalyst caused 66% and 57% reduction in COD and TOC values in industrial wastewater containing these pollutants. The photocatalysis was fitted to various models to elucidate the degradation kinetics, while LC-MS results suggested the mineralization pathway of dye majorly via ring opening demethylation. >98% disinfection was achieved against E. coli (10 4 -10 5 CFU∙mL -1 ) contaminated water. This study thus paves multifaceted strategies to treat wastewater contaminants at environmental levels employing nano-photocatalysis.
.