Facile Synthesis of a Heterojunction of Snowflake Dendritic Cu2S‐2D g‐C3N4: An Efficient Photocatalyst for Degradation of Several Textile Dyes and Antibiotics under Solar Light
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The pollution of aquatic environments by industrial effluents is a significant challenge and intensifies the rapid pace of industrialization and globalization. In this work, a heterojunction is created by forming a hierarchical structure composed of a p‐type semiconductor Cu2S having a dendritic snowflake structure and n‐type semiconductor 2D g‐C3N4. Initially, the photocatalytic (PC) performances of Cu2S‐g‐C3N4 (p–n heterojunction) are evaluated toward the degradation of a model dye methyl orange (MO) under the simulated solar light exposure. To optimize the composition of the photocatalyst, this reaction is performed using the photocatalysts with varying amounts of Cu2S and g‐C3N4, and among several compositions, 10Cu2S‐90 g‐C3N4 heterostructure demonstrates the highest PC activity, achieving complete degradation of MO within ≈30 min, with an apparent rate constant of kapp = 2.05 × 10−3 s−1. This performance is superior to many reported photocatalysts. The PC activities of this photocatalyst are assessed toward the degradation of different textile dyes and various antibiotics. 10Cu2S‐90 g‐C3N4 exhibits excellent PC performances by degrading the aforementioned commercial dyes and antibiotics, which are real examples of water pollutants and present in different wastewater effluents. Thus, this photocatalyst demonstrates its potential to be used in water pollution remediation processes.
Source: ChemNanoMat
Authors: Darshana Anand Upar, Narendra Nath Ghosh
Language: English
Field: Energy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: G2662125996, G6177293980
OpenAlex ID: W4410503144