Abstract
The presence of imidacloprid in surface waters has raised major environmental concern worldwide. Herein, for degradation and mineralization of imidacloprid, hybrid nano-catalysts g-C3N4/ZnO (< 20 nm) with different compositions were synthesized and characterized. Under UV-C light intensity of 15 W/m2 and at pH 7, degradation was observed to be highest (95.6%) for g-C3N4/ZnO (20:80) in comparison to bare ZnO (80.6%) and g-C3N4 (84.1%) nano-catalysts in just 35 min. The remarkable increase in photocatalytic activity was due to improved surface area (42.87 m2g−1), lower bandgap (2.76 eV) and lower photoluminescence intensity which resulted in lowering the recombination rate of electron–hole charge carriers. Further, higher zeta potential (+28 mV) at pH 7 might have increased intimacy in positively charged catalyst and high electron rich aromatic ring of imidacloprid which enhanced the degradation. The study was extended to analyze the reaction intermediates using LC–MS. The degradation mechanism revealed the formation of by-products such as ethylenediamine, nitroamine, acrolein, CO2 and H2O. Overall, g-C3N4/ZnO (20:80) was found to be a promising catalyst for the degradation of imidacloprid at neutral pH.
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Acknowledgement
Authors are thankful to MRC Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur for assistance in analysis of samples. Authors are also very thankful to Dr. Nirmal Singh Sekhon, Head Post Graduate Department of Chemistry, R.S.D. College Ferozepur, Punjab for assistance in LC–MS analysis. One of the authors Ms. Renuka is thankful to Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), New Delhi for providing fellowship.
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Garg, R., Gupta, R. & Bansal, A. Photocatalytic degradation of imidacloprid using semiconductor hybrid nano-catalyst: kinetics, surface reactions and degradation pathways. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 18, 1425–1442 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-020-02866-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-020-02866-y