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A Z-scheme BiYO3/g-C3N4 heterojunction photocatalyst for the degradation of organic pollutants under visible light irradiation

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Abstract

Photocatalysis is one of the fascinating fields for the wastewater treatment. In this regard, the present study deals with an effective visible light active BiYO3/g-C3N4 heterojunction nanocomposite photocatalyst with various ratios of BiYO3 and g-C3N4 (1:3, 1:1 and 3:1), synthesised by a wet chemical approach. The as-synthesised nanocomposite photocatalysts were investigated via different physicochemical approaches like Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electrons microscopy (TEM), UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), photoluminescence (PL) and photoelectrochemical studies to characterise the crystal structure, morphology, optical absorption characteristics and photoelectrochemical properties. The photocatalytic degradation ability of the prepared photocatalytic samples was also analysed through the degradation of RhB in the presence of visible light irradiation. Of all the synthesised photocatalysts, the optimised CB-1 composite showed a significant photocatalytic efficiency (88.7%), with excellent stability and recyclability after three cycles. O2•− and •OH radicals were found to act a major role in the RhB degradation using optimised CB-1 composite, and it possessed ~ 1 times greater photocurrent intensity than the pristine g-C3N4 and BiYO3. In the present work, a direct Z-scheme heterojunction BiYO3/g-C3N4 with a considerably improved photocatalytic performance is reported.

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Acknowledgements

The authors J. Madhavan and P. Sasikala are grateful to Thiruvalluvar University, Vellore, for the laboratory facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Solar Energy Lab, Department of Chemistry, Thiruvalluvar University, Vellore, 632 115, India

    Parthasarathy Sasikala, Thirugnanam Bavani & Jagannathan Madhavan

  2. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, Abha, 61413, Saudi Arabia

    Manickam Selvaraj

  3. Department of Physics and Nanotechnology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, 603 203, Chennai, India

    Mani Preeyanghaa

  4. Department of Chemistry, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, 603 203, Chennai, India

    Bernaurdshaw Neppolian

  5. School of Chemistry, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, 625 021, India

    Sepperumal Murugesan

Authors
  1. Parthasarathy Sasikala
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  2. Thirugnanam Bavani
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  3. Manickam Selvaraj
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  4. Mani Preeyanghaa
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  6. Sepperumal Murugesan
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  7. Jagannathan Madhavan
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, analysis and the first draft of the manuscript were written by Parthasarathy Sasikala. Analysis, interpretation and review by Thirugnanam Bavani. Characterisation, interpretation of data and validation are conducted by Mani Preeyanghaa, Bernaurdshaw Neppolian, Manickam Selvaraj and Sepperumal Murugesan. Supervision, validation and review by Jagannathan Madhavan. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jagannathan Madhavan.

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Sasikala, P., Bavani, T., Selvaraj, M. et al. A Z-scheme BiYO3/g-C3N4 heterojunction photocatalyst for the degradation of organic pollutants under visible light irradiation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 41095–41106 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-25027-9

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