In order to enhance the removal performance of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) on organic pollutant, a simultaneous process of adsorption and photocatalysis was achieved via the compounding of biochar and… Click to show full abstract
In order to enhance the removal performance of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) on organic pollutant, a simultaneous process of adsorption and photocatalysis was achieved via the compounding of biochar and g-C3N4. In this study, g-C3N4 was obtained by a condensation reaction of melamine at 550°C. Then the g-C3N4/biochar composites were synthesized by ball milling biochar and g-C3N4 together, which was considered as a simple, economical, and green strategy. The characterization of resulting g-C3N4/biochar suggested that biochar and g-C3N4 achieved effective linkage. The adsorption and photocatalytic performance of the composites were evaluated with enrofloxacin (EFA) as a model pollutant. The result showed that all the g-C3N4/biochar composites displayed higher adsorption and photocatalytic performance to EFA than that of pure g-C3N4. The 50% g-C3N4/biochar performed best and removed 45.2% and 81.1% of EFA (10 mg/L) under darkness and light with a dosage of 1 mg/mL, while g-C3N4 were 19.0% and 27.3%, respectively. Besides, 50% g-C3N4/biochar showed the highest total organic carbon (TOC) removal efficiency (65.9%). Radical trapping experiments suggested that superoxide radical (•O2-) and hole (h+) were the main active species in the photocatalytic process. After 4 cycles, the composite still exhibited activity for catalytic removal of EFA.
               
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