Cuo/Bi2o3/G-C3n4 Nanoparticles for Sunlight-Mediated Degradation of Polyethylene Terephthalate Microplastic Films

A novel photodegradable CuO/Bi2O3/g-C3N4(copper oxide/bismuth oxide/graphitic carbon nitride) nanoparticle (NP) was synthesized using the sol-gel method and sunlight-mediated degradation of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) microplastics (MPs) films. The optical and structural properties of the sol-gel method were investigated using a variety of characterization methods like UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray diffractometer, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. Degradation study results suggest that the photocatalytic activity of CuO/Bi2O3/g-C3N4/PET nanocomposites (NCs) films was greater than that of pure PET, CuO/PET, Bi2O3/PET, g-C3N4/PET, and CuO/Bi2O3/PET films. Because of their increased optical absorption and efficient suppression of photo-produced charge carriers’ recombination, the CuO/Bi2O3/g-C3N4/PET NCs films showed higher photocatalytic degradation than PET films. The formation of carbonyl groups in the degradation product of PET was confirmed by FT-IR analysis. Thus, PET films with CuO/Bi2O3/g-C3N4 (5:5:2% wt) NPs showed a degradation of around 41.60% among pure PET, CuO/PET, Bi2O3/PET, g-C3N4/PET, and CuO/Bi2O3/PET NCs films under visible light over a short period of 30 days (240 h). The present research also suggests a photocatalytic mechanism, which may explain the increased photocatalytic activity.