Photocatalytic Degradation of Chlorinated Hydrocarbons: The By-Product of the Petrochemical Industry Using Ag-Cu/Graphite Bimetallic Carbon Nitride

Abstract

In this study, the author improved and modified g-C3N4 by doping it with the metals Ag and Cu, which changed the photochemical properties of g-C3N4, narrowed the band gap, and improved the photocatalytic performance regarding quantum efficiency. Organic hydrocarbons such as 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) are very stable prepared materials produced as intermediates to obtain polyvinyl chloride, and the prepared photo-catalyst is an innovative method for extreme decomposition of chlorinated hydrocarbons. However, some significant results were obtained using different analysis techniques. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) showed that the addition of Ag and Cu-NPS partially altered the structure of pure graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4-Pure). Scanning electron microscopy (TEM) analysis revealed that the morphological features of Ag-Cu/g-C3N4 contain quantum dots of Ag and Cu nanoparticles in addition to 2d-g-C3N4. The better separation of the photo-generated charge carriers is attributed to better photoactivity in the case of 0.3 g Ag-Cu/g-C3N4 with a reaction time of less than 30 min. Furthermore, the Ag-Cu/g-C3N4 recycling experiment showed that the catalyst remained stable after three stages of the pyrolysis experimental cycle. Another clear indicator of DCE degradation is the measurement using the titration of the Cl ions released by the decomposition.