Highly active metal-free carbon dots/g-C3N4 hollow porous nanospheres for solar-light-driven PPCPs remediation: Mechanism insights, kinetics and effects of natural water matrices

Yuliang Wu; Fengliang Wang; Xiaoyu Jin; Xiaoshan Zheng; Yingfei Wang; Dandan Wei; Qianxin Zhang; Yiping Feng; Zhijie Xie; Ping Chen; Haijin Liu; Guoguang Liu

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2020.115492

Highly active metal-free carbon dots/g-C₃N₄ hollow porous nanospheres for solar-light-driven PPCPs remediation: Mechanism insights, kinetics and effects of natural water matrices

Water Res. 2020 Apr 1:172:115492. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2020.115492. Epub 2020 Jan 9.

Authors

Yuliang Wu¹, Fengliang Wang², Xiaoyu Jin¹, Xiaoshan Zheng¹, Yingfei Wang³, Dandan Wei¹, Qianxin Zhang¹, Yiping Feng¹, Zhijie Xie¹, Ping Chen⁴, Haijin Liu⁵, Guoguang Liu⁶

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
² School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China. Electronic address: wangfl1992@163.com.
³ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
⁴ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China; School of Environment, State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control (SKLESPC), Beijing Key Laboratory for Emerging Organic Contaminants Control, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory for Yellow River and Huaihe River Water Environment and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, 453007, China.
⁶ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China. Electronic address: liugg615@163.com.

PMID: 31945649
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2020.115492

Abstract

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are increasingly being scrutinized by the scientific community due to their environmental persistence. Therefore, the development of novel environmentally compatible and energy-efficient technologies for their removal is highly anticipated. In this work, a novel metal-free photocatalytic nanoreactor was successfully synthesized by anchoring carbon dots to hollow carbon nitride nanospheres (HCNS/CDs). The unique structure of these hollow nanospherical HCNS/CDs hybrids endowed them with a high population of reactive sites, while enhancing optical absorption due to internal light reflection. Simultaneously, the CDs served as "artificial antennas" to absorb and convert photons with low energy, due to their superior up-converting properties. Consequently, the HCNS/CDs demonstrated excellent photodegradation activities for the degradation of PPCPs under broad-spectrum irradiation. Remarkedly, 10 mg/L of naproxen (NPX) was completely degraded following 5 min of natural solar irradiation. It was further revealed that the O₂^•- played a significant role during the photocatalytic process, which could lead to the decomposition of NPX. The effects of natural water matrices and the degradation of trace PPCPs further supported that this photocatalytic system may be efficaciously applied for the remediation of PPCPs contamination in ambient waterways.

Keywords: Carbon dots; Graphitic carbon nitride; Hollow sphere; Pharmaceutical and personal care products; Photocatalytic.

MeSH terms

Carbon
Catalysis
Kinetics
Nanospheres*
Porosity
Water

Substances

Water
Carbon