Abstract
In this study we have synthesised the alkali metal modified g-C3N4 by following a facile method of thermal polymerisation. The lithium doped g-C3N4 so obtained has been characterised to understand various structural, morphological and optical aspects of the samples. The photocatalytic potential of lithium doped g-C3N4 has been analysed for degradation of organic dyes crystal violet, methyl orange, rhodamine b, rose bengal under natural solar irradiation. The performed study revealed that li doped g-C3N4 can act as a potential solar light responding photocatalytic material for various organic dyes degradation and can be explored further for other environmental applications.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The data are available on request.
References
Alaghmandfard, A., Ghandi, K.: A comprehensive review of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4)-metal oxide-based nanocomposites: potential for photocatalysis and sensing. Nanomaterials 12(2), 294 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12020294
Banitalebi, A.D., Ziarati, G.A., Jahan, B., Badiei, A.: Preparation of hierarchical g-C3N4@TiO2 hollow spheres for enhanced visible-light induced catalytic CO2 reduction. Sol. Energy 205, 465–473 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2020.05.071
Begum, T., Gogoi, P.K., Bora, U.: Photocatalytic degradation of crystal violet dye on the surface of Au doped TiO2 nanoparticles. Indian J. Chem. Technol. 24, 97–101 (2017)
Cao, S., Low, J., Yu, J., Jaroniec, M.: Polymeric photocatalysts based on graphitic carbon nitride. Adv. Mater. 27(13), 2150–2176 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201500033
Chang, F., Zhang, J., Xie, Y., Chen, J., Li, C., Wang, J., Luo, J., Deng, B., Hu, X.: Fabrication, characterization, and photocatalytic performance of exfoliated g-C3N4-TiO2 hybrids. Appl. Surf. Sci. 311, 574–581 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2014.05.111
Chanda, A., Rout, K., Vasundhara, M., Joshi, S.R., Singh, J.: Structural and magnetic study of undoped and cobalt doped TiO2 nanoparticles. RSC Adv. 8, 10939 (2018)
Dandia, A., Gupta, S.L., Saini, P., Sharma, R., Meena, S., Parewa, V.: Structure couture and appraisal of catalytic activity of carbon nitride (g-C3N4) based materials towards sustainability. Curr. Opin. Green Sustain. Chem. 3, 100039 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crgsc.2020.100039
Fang, H.B., Luo, Y., Zheng, Y.Z., Ma, W., Tao, X.: Facile large-scale synthesis of urea-derived porous graphitic carbon nitride with extraordinary visible-light spectrum photodegradation. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 55(16), 4506–4514 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.6b00041
Fang, W., Deng, Y., Tang, L., Zeng, G., Zhou, Y., Xie, X., Wang, J., Wang, Y., Wang, J.: Synthesis of Pd/Au bimetallic nanoparticle-loaded ultrathin graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets for highly efficient catalytic reduction of p-nitrophenol. J. Coll. Interf. Sci. 490, 834–843 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2016.12.017
Fang, H.B., Zhang, X.H., Wu, J., Li, N., Zheng, Y.Z., Tao, X.: Fragmented phosphorus-doped graphitic carbon nitride nanoflakes with broad sub-bandgap absorption for highly efficient visible-light photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Appl. Catal. B 225, 397–405 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2017.11.080
Gao, L.F., Wen, T., Xu, J.Y., Zhai, X.P., Zhao, M., Hu, G.W., Chen, P., Wang, Q., Zhang, H.L.: Iron-doped carbon nitride-type polymers as homogeneous organocatalysts for visible light-driven hydrogen evolution. ACS Appl. Mater. Interf. 8(1), 617–624 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.5b09684
Ge, Z., Yu, A., Lu, R.: Preparation of Li-doped graphitic carbon nitride with enhanced visible-light photoactivity. Mater. Lett 250, 9–11 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2019.04.099
Guo, Y., Chen, T., Liu, Q., Zhang, Z., Fang, X.: Insight into the enhanced photocatalytic activity of potassium and iodine codoped graphitic carbon nitride photocatalysts. J. Phys. Chem. C 120(44), 25328–25337 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.6b06921
Han, C., Bo, X., Liu, J., Li, M., Zhou, M., Guo, L.: Fe, Co bimetal activated N-doped graphitic carbon layers as noble metal-free electrocatalysts for high-performance oxygen reduction reaction. J. Alloys Compd. 710, 57–65 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2017.03.241
Hu, J., Zhang, P., An, W., Liu, L., Liang, Y., Cui, W.: In-situ Fe-doped g-C3N4 heterogeneous catalyst via photocatalysis-Fenton reaction with enriched photocatalytic performance for removal of complex wastewater. Appl. Catal. B Environ 245, 130–142 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2018.12.029
Khan, M.E., Khan, M.M., Min, B.K., Cho, M.H.: Microbial fuel cell assisted band gap narrowed TiO2 for visible light-induced photocatalytic activities and power generation. Sci. Rep. 8(1), 1723 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-19617-2
Lakhi, K.S., Park, D.H., Al-Bahily, K., Cha, W., Viswanathan, B., Choy, J.H., Vinu, A.: Mesoporous carbon nitrides: synthesis, functionalization, and applications. Chem. Soc. Rev. 46, 72–101 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1039/c6cs90118b
Li, Y., Fang, L., Jin, R., Yang, Y., Fang, X., Xing, Y., Song, S.: Preparation and enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity of novel g-C3N4 nanosheets loaded with Ag2CO3 nanoparticles. Nanoscale 7(2), 758–764 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1039/c4nr06565d
Li, Y., Ho, W., Lv, K., Zhu, B., Lee, S.C.: Carbon vacancy-induced enhancement of the visible light-driven photocatalytic oxidation of NO over g-C3N4 nanosheets. Appl. Surf. Sci. 430, 380–389 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2017.06.054
Liu, E., Jin, C., Xu, C., Fan, J., Hu, X.: Facile strategy to fabricate Ni2P/g-C3N4 heterojunction with excellent photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity. Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 43(46), 21355–21364 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.09.195
Majeed, I., Manzoor, U., Kanodarwala, F.K., Nadeem, M.A., Hussain, E., Ali, H., Badshah, A., Stride, A.J., Nadeem, M.A.: Pd-Ag decorated g-C3N4 as an efficient photocatalyst for hydrogen production from water under direct solar light irradiation. Catal. Sci. Technol. 8(4), 1183–1193 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1039/c7cy02219k
Michał, B., Mariola, R.: Photocatalysis in the treatment and disinfection of water. Ecol. Chem. Eng. S. 19(4), 489–512 (2012). https://doi.org/10.2478/v10216-011-0036-5
Modwi, A., Ghanem, A.M., Al-Mayouf, M.A., Houas, A.: Lowering energy band gap and enhancing photocatalytic properties of Cu/ZnO composite decorated by transition metals. J. Mol. Struct 1173, 1–6 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molstruc.2018.06.082
Panchal, P., Paul, D.R., Sharma, A., Choudhary, P., Meena, P., Nehra, S.P.: Biogenic mediated Ag/ZnO nanocomposites for photocatalytic and antibacterial activities towards disinfection of water. J. Coll. Interf. Sci. 563, 370–380 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2019.12.079
Panchal, P., Paul, D.R., Gautam, S., Meena, P., Nehra, S.P., Maken, S., Sharma, A.: Photocatalytic and antibacterial activities of green synthesized Ag doped MgO nanocomposites towards environmental sustainability. Chemosphere 3, 134182 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134182
Patidar, D., Yadav, A., Paul, D.R., Sharma, A., Nehra, S.P.: Nanohybrids cadmium selenide-reduced graphene oxide for improving photo-degradation of methylene blue. Phys. E Low Dimens. Syst. Nanostruct. 114, 113560 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physe.2019.113560
Paul, D.R., Sharma, R., Panchal, P., Malik, R., Sharma, A., Tomer, V.K., Nehra, S.P.: Silver doped graphitic carbon nitride for the enhanced photocatalytic activity towards organic dyes. J. Nanosci. Nanotechnol. 19(8), 5241–5248 (2019a). https://doi.org/10.1166/jnn.2019.16838
Paul, D.R., Sharma, R., Panchal, P., Nehra, S.P., Gupta, A.P., Sharma, A.: Synthesis, characterization and application of silver doped graphitic carbon nitride as photocatalyst towards visible light photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy. 45(44), 23937–23946 (2019b). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2019.06.061
Paul, D.R., Sharma, R., Nehra, S.P., Sharma, A.: Effect of calcination temperature, pH and catalyst loading on photodegradation efficiency of urea derived graphitic carbon nitride towards methylene blue dye solution. RSC Adv. 9, 15381–15391 (2019c). https://doi.org/10.1039/C9RA02201E
Paul, D.R., Gautam, S., Panchal, P., Nehra, S.P., Chaudhary, P., Sharma, A.: ZnO-Modified g-C3N4: a potential photocatalyst for environmental application. ACS Omega 5(8), 3828–3838 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.9b02688
Qian, X., Wu, Y., Kan, M., Fang, M., Yue, D., Zeng, J., Zhao, Y.: FeOOH quantum dots coupled g-C3N4 for visible light driving photo-Fenton degradation of organic pollutants. Appl. Catal. B Environ. 237, 513–520 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2018.05.074
Sharma, R., Almáši, M., Nehra, S.P., Rao, V.S., Panchal, P., Paul, D.R., Jain, I.P., Sharma, A.: Photocatalytic hydrogen production using graphitic carbon nitride (GCN): a precise review. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 168, 1364–1421 (2022a). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2022.112776
Sharma, R., Kalbar, P., Srivastav, S.K., Kumar, K., Singh, S.P.: Metal nanocomposite synthesis and its application in electrochemical CO2 reduction. In: Singh, S.P., Agarwal, A.K., Kumar, K., Srivastav, S.K. (eds.) Metal nanocomposites for energy and environmental applications energy, environment, and sustainability. Springer, Singapore (2022)
Shinde, S.S., Sami, A., Lee, J.H.: Electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution using graphitic carbon nitride coupled with nanoporous graphene co-doped by S and Se. J. Mater. Chem. A 3(24), 12810–12819 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1039/c5ta02656c
Sun, S., Liang, S.: Recent advances in functional mesoporous graphitic carbon nitride (mpg-C3N4) polymers. Nanoscale 9(30), 10544–10578 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1039/c7nr03656f
Sunasee, S., Leong, K.H., Wong, K.T., Lee, G., Pichiah, S., Nah, I., Jeon, B.-H., Yoon, Y., Jang, M.: Sonophotocatalytic degradation of bisphenol A and its intermediates with graphitic carbon nitride. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 1082–1093 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8729-7
Suyana, P., Ganguly, P., Nair, B.N., Pillai, S.C., Hareesh, U.S.: Structural and compositional tuning in g-C3N4 based systems for photocatalytic antibiotic degradation. Chem. Eng. J. Adv. 8, 100148 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceja.2021.100148
Thomas, J., Ambili, K.S., Radhika, S.: Synthesis of Sm3+-doped graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets for the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants under sunlight. Catal. Today 310, 11–18 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cattod.2017.06.029
Tian, N., Huang, H., Du, X., Dong, F., Zhang, Y.: Rational nanostructure design of graphitic carbon nitride for photocatalytic applications. J. Mater. Chem. A 7, 11584–11612 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1039/C9TA01819K
Tian, C., Zhao, H., Sun, H., Xiao, K., Wong, P.K.: Enhanced adsorption and photocatalytic activities of ultrathin graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets: kinetics and mechanism. Chem. Eng. J. 381, 122760 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2019.122760
Wang, K.L., Li, Y., Sun, T., Mao, F., Wu, J.K., Xue, B.: Fabrication of Na, Cl co-doped graphitic carbon nitride with enhanced photocatalytic activity for degradation of dyes and antibiotics. J. Mater. Sci.: Mater Electron 30, 4446–4454 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-019-00733-2
Wu, W., Ruan, Z., Li, J., Li, Y., Jiang, Y., Xu, X., Li, D., Yuan, Y., Lin, K.: In situ preparation and analysis of bimetal co-doped mesoporous graphitic carbon nitride with enhanced photocatalytic activity. Micro Nano Lett. 11, 1–10 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-018-0236-y
Yan, W., Zhang, Ru., Ji, F., Jing, C.: Deciphering co-catalytic mechanisms of potassium doped g-C3N4 in Fenton process. J. Hazard. Mater. 392, 122472 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.122472
Zhang, G., Zhang, J., Zhang, M., Wang, X.: Polycondensation of thiourea into carbon nitride semiconductors as visible light photocatalysts. J. Mater. Chem. 22(16), 8083 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1039/c2jm00097k
Zhang, G., Huang, C., Wang, X.: Dispersing molecular cobalt in graphitic carbon nitride frameworks for photocatalytic water oxidation. Small 11(9–10), 1215–1221 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201402636
Zhao, H., Chen, X.L., Jia, C., Zhou, T., Qu, X., Jian, J., Xu, Y., Zhou, T.: A facile mechanochemical way to prepare g-C3N4. J. Mater. Sci. Eng. B 122, 226–230 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mseb.2005.05.007
Zhao, Y., Li, Y., Ren, X., Gao, F., Zhao, H.: The effect of Eu doping on microstructure, morphology and methanal-sensing performance of highly ordered SnO2 nanorods array. Nanomaterials 7, 410 (2017). https://doi.org/10.3390/nano7120410
Zhong, X., Jin, M., Dong, H., Liu, L., Wang, L., Yu, H., Leng, S., Zhuang, G., Li, X., Jg, W.: TiO2 nanobelts with a uniform coating of g-C3N4 as a highly effective heterostructure for enhanced photocatalytic activities. J. Solid State Chem. 220, 54–59 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jssc.2014.08.016
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to the Materials Research Center (MRC), Malaviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT), Jaipur for providing characterization facilities.
Funding
Devina Rattan Paul highly acknowledges the Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt. of India for providing project grant under Women Scientists Scheme-A reference no. SR/WOS-A/ET-77/2018. Anshu Sharma acknowledges the University Grants Commission, Ministry of Human Resources and Development, Govt. of India for providing research grant under Start-Up-Grant reference no. 30–545/2021 (BSR).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
DRP: Conceptualization; Methodology; Investigation; Roles/ Writing—original draft; Writing—review & editing. RS: Conceptualization; Methodology Writing—review & editing. AS, SPN: Supervision; Project administration; Conceptualization; Methodology; Roles/ Writing—original draft; Writing – review & editing.
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interest
We declare that we have no significant competing financial, professional, or personal interests that might have influenced the performance or presentation of the work described in this manuscript. We have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Ethical approval
For this type of study formal consent is not required.
Informed consent
Not applicable.
Consent for publications
Not applicable.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Rattan Paul, D., Sharma, R., Sharma, A. et al. Li doped graphitic carbon nitride based solar light responding photocatalyst for organic water pollutants degradation. Proc.Indian Natl. Sci. Acad. 88, 696–704 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43538-022-00114-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43538-022-00114-0