To address environmental concerns, solar-driven photocatalytic processes are proposed for the removal of anthropogenic pollutants. The textile industry's wastewater, rich in emerging organic pollutants, including dyes, is a primary target for this approach.
Carbon nitride (C3N4) is a low-cost semiconductor material that can absorb light in the visible solar spectrum, in addition to being easy to manufacture, non-toxic, and biodegradable. The nanoparticles of this material possess optical and electronic properties associated with their nanoscale structure. To overcome its own limitations, strategies have been designed that consider modification with metals, such as iron. In this context, carbon nitride particles (CN) were synthesized from the calcination of urea. Then, the CN were modified by applying the calcination and impregnation methods with the Fe (II) salt (CNFe (II)c and (CNFe (II)i, respectively).
The synthesized catalysts were characterized by IR-ATR. UV–vis absorption spectra and the zeta potential of the aqueous suspensions were determined. Time-resolved as well as steady-state photoluminescence measurements were measured. Total organic carbon (TOC) and some other characterization techniques were applied to obtain more information on the material.
The photocatalytic properties of each material were evaluated using methyl orange (MO) as a model contaminant and 350 nm monochromatic light. In all cases, samples were taken periodically, and UV–visible spectroscopy was used to monitor the concentration of MO. The MO removal percentages indicate that CNFe (II)i exhibits a significantly higher MO removal efficiency compared to unmodified CN and CNFe (II)c under identical experimental conditions.
Based on the obtained results, a future study is proposed to investigate the mechanisms involved in MO degradation. This will provide a deeper understanding of the results and lay the groundwork for future studies related to the toxicity of the reaction mixture after each treatment of the treated samples, as well as the implementation of other contaminants.
