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Synergistic mechanism and degradation kinetics for atrazine elimination by integrated N-ZnO/g-C3N4/solar light/oxidant

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Abstract

In this study, an N-ZnO/g-C3N4 (g-N-Z) Z-scheme photocatalyst was constructed using hydrothermal and high-temperature calcination. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and other tests were employed to characterise the catalytic material. The results showed that after N-ZnO modification, the separation efficiency of the photoinduced charge pairs and the utilisation of sunlight in the composites were improved. The kinetics experiments indicated that the degradation of atrazine (ATZ) in the g-N-Z/PDS/solar system was significantly better than that in the PDS/solar system. Under the action of the g-N-Z/PDS/solar system, the degradation rate of ATZ reached 83.88%, whereas in the PDS/solar system, it was only 31.76%. In addition, it was found that increasing the PDS concentration, g-N-Z dosage, and solution acidity effectively accelerated the removal of ATZ. The presence of HCO3−/CO32−, Cl−, and natural organic matter (NOM) inhibited the oxidation efficiency of the g-N-Z/PDS/solar system. Moreover, the presence of multiple reactive oxygen species (ROS) was confirmed using radical scavenging experiments to determine the contribution of each active component. Twelve oxidation intermediates of ATZ were obtained via liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS), and the mechanism of enhanced ATZ degradation in the g-N-Z/PDS/solar system was proposed. Actual water and cyclic photocatalytic experiments further suggest that g-N-Z has good application value in water treatment.

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Funding

This study is financially supported by the Shandong Top Talent Special Foundation, the Introduction and Cultivation Plan for Young Innovative Talents of Colleges and Universities by the Education Department of Shandong Province, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51908335 and 52270200), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant Nos. 2020M672085), the post-doctoral innovation project of Shandong Province (Grant Nos. 317202002023). This work was supported by the Central Government Guides of the Local Science and Technology Development Special Project (Grant Nos. 2020ZY0068).

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  1. School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan, 250101, People’s Republic of China

    Yongkai Chen, Congwei Luo, Fengxun Tan & Lubing Yang

  2. Resources and Environment Innovation Institute, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan, 250101, People’s Republic of China

    Congwei Luo

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  1. Yongkai Chen
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Chen, Y., Luo, C., Tan, F. et al. Synergistic mechanism and degradation kinetics for atrazine elimination by integrated N-ZnO/g-C3N4/solar light/oxidant. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 26032–26049 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23931-8

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