Insights into the rapid elimination of antibiotics from aqueous media by tunable CN photocatalysts: Effects of dopant amount, co-existing ions and reactive oxygen species.

Conventional photocatalytic nanomaterials are not environmentally sustainable since these are usually produced from scarce mineral and metal precursors. Moreover, high pollutant removal efficiencies by conventional photocatalysts are only attained after several hours of reaction with light. In this study, novel visible light-active photocatalysts were synthesized from environment-friendly carbon precursors and applied for the rapid degradation of sulfamethoxazole (SMX) in aqueous solutions.

Rapid removal of sulfamethoxazole from simulated water matrix by visible-light responsive iodine and potassium co-doped graphitic carbon nitride photocatalysts.

An environment-friendly iodine and potassium co-doped g-CN (IKCN) photocatalyst was synthesized via the co-pyrolysis of urea and potassium iodate. Various characterization techniques were employed to evaluate the physical, thermal and chemical characteristics of the as-synthesized photocatalyst. Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) was used as a representative antibiotic pollutant.