The stable and elastic graphitic carbon nitride/polyvinyl alcohol photocatalytic composite sponge: Simple synthesis and application for wastewater treatment

Nanosized photocatalysts have the obvious disadvantages in recovering and recycling process during the wastewater treatment. To overcome the above shortcomings, graphitic carbon nitride/polyvinyl alcohol (g-C3N4/PVA) photocatalytic composite sponge was prepared simply by introducing graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) photocatalyst into polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) sponge via copolymerization method during the cross-linking process. The characterization results indicated that the g-C3N4/PVA composite sponge has the porous structure and g-C3N4 nanoparticles have been attached uniformly and tightly throughout the porous structure of the PVA sponge. Furthermore, the composite sponge has excellent elastic deformation property and can be easily tailored into designed shapes without destroying the structure of the sponge. Thirdly, the composite sponge shows efficient adsorption and photodegradation properties for removing of organic pollutants rhodamine B (RhB) and tetracycline (TC) from wastewater. It is worth to note that the prepared g-C3N4/PVA composite sponge can be easily recovered from the wastewater solution and shows stable recycling property. Our method to combine g-C3N4 photocatalysts into PVA sponge provides a facile technique to construct stable photocatalysts with recyclable and photocatalytic degradation properties in the field of wastewater treatment.