Activation of Persulfate for Improved Naproxen Degradation Using FeCo2O4@g-C3N4 Heterojunction Photocatalysts

Baskaran Palanivel; Md Shahadat Hossain; Romulo R Macadangdang Jr; Chinnadurai Ayappan; Vignesh Krishnan; Raj Marnadu; Thirunavukarasu Kalaivani; Fahad A Alharthi; Gedi Sreedevi

doi:10.1021/acsomega.1c04896

Activation of Persulfate for Improved Naproxen Degradation Using FeCo₂O₄@g-C₃N₄ Heterojunction Photocatalysts

ACS Omega. 2021 Dec 13;6(50):34563-34571. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.1c04896. eCollection 2021 Dec 21.

Authors

Baskaran Palanivel¹, Md Shahadat Hossain², Romulo R Macadangdang Jr³, Chinnadurai Ayappan⁴, Vignesh Krishnan⁴, Raj Marnadu⁵, Thirunavukarasu Kalaivani⁴, Fahad A Alharthi⁶, Gedi Sreedevi⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, Kings Engineering College, Sriperumbudur, Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu 602117, India.
² Department of Innovation Systems Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Utsunomiya University, Yoto 7-1-2, Utsunomiya 321-8585, Japan.
³ Department of Medical Technology, Institute of Arts and Sciences, Far Eastern University, Manila 1008, Philippines.
⁴ Department of Physics and Nanotechnology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu 603203, India.
⁵ PG Department of Physics, GTN Arts College, Dindigul, Tamil Nadu 624005, India.
⁶ Chemistry Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 1145, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 38541, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

An effective heterojunction with robust charge separation and enormous degradation efficiency is the major task for photocatalyst preparation. In this study, we have prepared the FeCo₂O₄-loaded g-C₃N₄ nanosheet by the sol-gel-assisted calcination method for photo-Fenton-like degradation under visible-light irradiation by activating persulfate. The nanocomposite exhibits a higher charge separation efficiency than pure g-C₃N₄ and FeCo₂O₄ for the degradation reaction against naproxen drugs. An effective interaction between the nanoparticles increases the degradation efficiency up to 91% with a synergistic index of 73.62%. Moreover, the nanocomposite exhibits a 78% mineralization efficiency against the naproxen pollutant under visible-light irradiation. For practical implementation, the degradation reaction was tested with various pH values, different water sources (DI, lake, and tap water), and light sources (LED (visible)/direct sunlight (UV-visible)). Moreover, the possible degradation mechanism predicted by the elemental trapping experiment and the recycling experiment clearly revealed that the heterojunction composite has a high enough degradation stability.