Metal-free, chemically activated crystalline graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) nanorods with enhanced visible-light photoactivity demonstrated rapid photodegradation of 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) in water and real hospital wastewater. Pure g-CN and another three crystalline promoted g-CN photocatalysts developed by hydrothermal method were characterized by, High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), Photoluminescence (PL), Electron spin resonance (ESR), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS). Hydrothermal-based chemical activation did not alter the crystal structure, functional group or surface morphology, but it enhanced the specific surface area of activated g-CN due to intralayer delamination and depolymerization of g-CN. Compared to pure g-CN, the activated g-CN-3 demonstrated efficient degradation of EE2 (<30 min, 3 mg/l) by visible wavelengths of the solar spectrum. This work provides advanced insight into the construction of heterojunction visible-light photocatalysts and production of O via reduction of O with photogenerated electrons. Proposed and derived mechanism for photodegradation of EE2 by g-CN-3 using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS). Yeast Estrogen Screen (YES) was performed to evaluate the estrogenicity of treated water samples. Efficient removal of EE2 estrogenic activity (<45 min, 3 mg/l) was achieved using the visible light-activated g-CN. Estrogenicity removal rate corresponded well with EE2-degradation rate.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.122880 | DOI Listing |
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