Novel 2D/2D g-CN/BiNbOCl nano-composite for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of oxytetracycline under visible LED light irradiation.

A novel visible-light-responsive 2D/2D g-CN/BiNbOCl nano-composite photocatalyst was hydrothermally synthesized using g-CN and BiNbOCl. Various characterization techniques were employed to characterize the as-synthesized g-CN/BiNbOCl nano-composites. The photocatalytic efficiency of the nano-composite materials was assessed by the degradation of an emerging pharmaceutical pollutant, oxytetracycline (OTC), under visible LED light irradiation. It was observed that at an optimum mass ratio of 20% (g-CN to BiNbOCl), the 20g-CN/BiNbOCl nano-composite produced the highest photocatalytic degradation efficiency toward OTC. The photocatalytic degradation of OTC (20 mgL) by 20g-CN/BiNbOCl (1 gL), under 60 min of visible LED light irradiation was 87%, which was about 1.2 and 1.8 times higher as compared to that of pure BiNbOCl and g-CN, respectively. This improved performance was associated with the formation of type-II heterojunction, which resulted in better visible-light absorption and reduced recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Moreover, it was observed that after four cycles of degradation experiments, the nano-composite was stable. The results of this work not only demonstrate the construction of 2D/2D g-CN/BiNbOCl nano-composite for successful low-cost and energy-efficient photocatalytic degradation of recalcitrant pollutant but also motivate the production of similar photocatalysts targeting environmental remediation.