LAUSR

Abstract The present work was aimed at designing of g-CN@CuO photocatalyst for the degradation of phenol under the visible light irradiation. The as-designed catalysts were characterized for their crystallinity, chemical functionalities, surface morphology and bandgap energy. The g-CN@CuO (7%) photocatalyst displays high degradation efficiency (87.8%) within 120 min which was significantly higher than that of g-CN, g-CN@CuO (4%), g-CN@CuO (12%) and g-CN@CuO (15%). The kinetics of the photocatalytic degradation of phenol follows pseudo first order reaction. Moreover, the influence of experimental conditions on the degradation of phenol and the reusability of the catalysts were examined. The feasible mechanism for the enhanced photo activity of g-CN@CuO (7%) nanocomposite was deeply explored. This study provides a worthy reference for rising an effective g-CN based photocatalytic pathway for economical degradation process of pollutants in water under the visible light.