WSe/g-CN for an In Situ Photocatalytic Fenton-like System in Phenol Degradation.

An in situ photo-Fenton system can continuously generate HO by photocatalysis, activating HO in situ to form strong oxidizing ·OH radicals and degrading organic pollutants. A WSe/g-CN composite catalyst with WSe as a co-catalyst was successfully synthesized in this work and used for in situ photo-Fenton oxidation. The WSe/g-CN composite with 7% loading of WSe (CNW2) has HO production of 35.04 μmol/L, which is fourteen times higher than pure g-CN. The degradation efficiency of CNW2 for phenol reached 67%. By constructing an in situ Fenton-system, the phenol degradation rate could be further enhanced to 90%. WSe can enhance the catalytic activity of CNW2 by increasing electron mobility and inhibiting the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Moreover, the addition of Fe activates the generated HO, thus increasing the amount of strong oxidative ·OH radicals for the degradation of phenol. Overall, CNW2 is a promising novel material with a high HO yield and can directly degrade organic pollutants using an in situ photo-Fenton reaction.