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Role of precursors on the photophysical properties of carbon nitride and its application for antibiotic degradation

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Abstract

In this paper, we provide a comprehensive evaluation of graphitic carbon nitride (C3N4) powders derived from the four different precursors melamine, cyanamide, thiourea, and urea for the photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline (TC) antibiotic under sunlight irradiation. The powders were synthesized by employing the conventional thermal decomposition method. The synthesized powders were examined using different characterization tools for evaluating the photophysical properties. The degradation profile revealed that urea-derived C3N4 showed the highest activity while melamine-derived C3N4 showed the least activity. The TC degradation efficiency of the photocatalyst was found to be influenced more by the surface area values despite extended absorption by melamine in the visible light region. Stability tests on urea-derived C3N4 and others were checked by four runs of TC degradation under sunlight irradiation. The synthesized C3N4 powders also confirmed the dominance of urea-derived powders for cyclic stability.

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Acknowledgements

Mr. Kiran Mohan is thankfully acknowledged for the HRTEM micrographs. The authors are grateful to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR, Government of India) for the 12th 5-year plan project on “IntelCoat” (CSC0114). Author S P thanks CSIR for the research fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials Science and Technology Division, National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Industrial Estate PO Pappanamcode, Thiruvananthapuram, 695019,, India

    Suyana Panneri, Priyanka Ganguly, Abdul Azeez Peer Mohamed, Krishna Gopa Kumar Warrier & Unnikrishnan Nair Saraswathy Hareesh

  2. Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), New Delhi, India

    Suyana Panneri & Unnikrishnan Nair Saraswathy Hareesh

  3. R&D Center, Noritake Co. Limited, Aichi, 470-0293, Japan

    Balagopal N. Nair

  4. Nanochemistry Research Institute, Department of Chemistry, Curtin University, GPO Box UI987, Perth, WA, 6845, Australia

    Balagopal N. Nair

Authors
  1. Suyana Panneri
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  2. Priyanka Ganguly
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  3. Balagopal N. Nair
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  4. Abdul Azeez Peer Mohamed
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  5. Krishna Gopa Kumar Warrier
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  6. Unnikrishnan Nair Saraswathy Hareesh
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Unnikrishnan Nair Saraswathy Hareesh.

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Responsible editor: Suresh Pillai

Electronic supplementary material

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Detailed experimental method, characterization procedures, and EDX pattern of C3N4 is provided in the supporting information. (DOCX 82 kb)

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Panneri, S., Ganguly, P., Nair, B.N. et al. Role of precursors on the photophysical properties of carbon nitride and its application for antibiotic degradation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 8609–8618 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8538-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8538-z

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