Composite photocatalyst C 3 N 4 /BiVO 4 for adsorption/photocatalytic degradation of drugs in water

AbstractC3N4/BiVO4 composites as co-photocatalyst were successfully synthesized via hydrothermal method by varying the weight ratio of g-C3N4/BiVO4. The prepared samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction instrument, scanning electron microscopy, and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The morphological properties of composites show that g-C3N4 particles is deposited on the surface of BiVO4 while the crystal structure study shows that co-catalysts are existed by X-ray diffraction pattern. The photocatalytic degradation shows improvement by the composite with a ratio of 5% g-C3N4/BiVO4, the adsorption/photodegradation of Rhodamine B and Methyl Orange were about 97% and 88%, respectively within 40 min. The result indicates that g-C3N4/BiVO4 are paired their properties which are adsorption/photocatalyst, consequently, efficient spatial charge carrier separation. This finding was applied to remove ciprofloxacin and paracetamol in water. about 65% of paracetamol was removed from water compared with 15% of ciprofloxacin, this result revealing that excellent photodegradation of paracetamol by 5% g-C3N4/BiVO4 composite.Keywords: Z-scheme photocatalystorganic/inorganicC3N4/BiVO4ciprofloxacin and paracetamol AcknowledgmentsThe authors thank the Applied Science Department and Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Research Center, University of Technology/Baghdad-Iraq, particularly, for SEM, UV-vis and XRD, and for free access to the laboratory.Ethics approval and consent to participateNot applicable.Author contributionHN prepared the photocatalyst and test photocatalytic activity, AA wrote and edited some parts of the manuscript and supervised, and DA planned and supervised the research. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.Consent for publicationNot applicable.Disclosure statementThe authors declare no competing interests.Availability of data and materialsThe datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.Additional informationFundingThis work was financially supported by the Ministry of High Education Scientific Research of Iraq/Research and Development department/Project management department.