Facile immobilization of Ag nanoparticles on g-C3N4/V2O5 surface for enhancement of post-illumination, catalytic, and photocatalytic activity removal of organic and inorganic pollutants

• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2018.10.109
• Publication Date: 2018-10-13T21:31:53Z
• Authors: Hamdy S. EL-Shesh...; Hamza M. El-Hosainy; Kamel R. Shoueir; Ibrahim M. El-Meh...; Maged El-Kemary
• Keywords: 13. Climate action; 7. Clean energy; 01 natural sciences; 6. Clean water; 0104 chemical sciences

Abstract Multifunctional nanocatalyst that is efficient in removal of organic and inorganic contaminant under different light illumination is highly anticipated. Here, we report a ternary nanocatalyst that has catalytic, photocatalytic and a good photocatalytic memory for oxidation/reduction processes. The ternary nanocatalyst was prepared by the facile immobilization of Ag NPs on the V2O5/g-C3N4 surface by photodeposition method. The morphology of the ternary nanostructure shows the uniform distribution of V2O5 on the g-C3N4 surface decorated with 20–30 nm average diameters of Ag NPs. The prepared catalyst exhibits unique catalytic, photocatalytic and post-oxidation/reduction ability for removal of organic, p-nitrophenol (NP), methylene blue (MB) and inorganic (Cr+6) water pollutants. The catalytic reduction conversion of NP was completed in 60 min was ascribed to the electron relay mechanism, while the photocatalytic hydrogenation of NP was achieved in only 8 min and assigned to the solid Z-scheme electron-hole pair generation facilitated by the good electron storage of Ag NPs. On the other hand, the electron storage memory of the photocatalyst was responsible for the post- oxidation/reduction of MB/Cr+6 respectively. Oxidation of MB increased by 27%, while the Reduction of Cr+6 to Cr+3 was enhanced by 28% after sunlight post-illumination. The proposed ternary nanocatalyst provide an efficient tool for the removal of water pollutants from different sources during the daytime: in presence of sunlight or after the sunset.