Graphitic carbon nitride embedded with graphene materials towards photocatalysis of bisphenol A: The role of graphene and mediation of superoxide and singlet oxygen.

Composite photocatalysts comprising graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) and graphene materials were synthesized and evaluated in the photocatalysis of bisphenol A (BPA) with a focus on elucidating the reaction mechanism. Embedding reduced graphene oxide (rGO) to g-CN significantly accelerated the photocatalysis rate of BPA by three folds under visible light irradiation at neutral pH. We showed that rGO synthesized in intimate contact with g-CN increased the surface areas and electrical conductivity of the g-CN composites and promoted the electron-hole pair separation. The BPA photodegradation mechanism involved selective oxidants as superoxide (O) and singlet oxygen (O) that were formed through one-electron reduction of O and the unique oxidation of O by photogenerated hole (h), respectively. The synthesized photocatalyst exhibited superior visible light photoreactivity to that of N-doped P25 TiO, good photo-stability and reuse potential, and was operative in complex wastewater. rGO embedded g-CN achieved good photomineralization of BPA at 80% in 4 h compared to 40% of bare g-CN. This study sheds light on the photocatalysis mechanism of BPA with a metal-free, promising rGO/g-CN photocatalyst.