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Keywords:
g-C3N4; MgO; nitric oxide; photocatalyst; visible light
Abstract
Nitric oxide (NO) is an air pollutant impacting the environment, human health, and other biotas. Among the technologies to treat NO pollution, photocatalytic oxidation under visible light is considered an effective means. This study describes photocatalytic oxidation to degrade NO under visible light with the support of a photocatalyst. MgO@g-C3N4 heterojunction photocatalysts were synthesized by one-step pyrolysis of MgO and urea at 550 °C for two hours. The photocatalytic NO removal efficiency of the MgO@g-C3N4 heterojunctions was significantly improved and reached a maximum value of 75.4% under visible light irradiation. Differential reflectance spectroscopy (DRS ) was used to determine the optical properties and bandgap energies of the material. The bandgap of the material decreases with increasing amounts of MgO. The photoluminescence spectra indicate that the recombination of electron-hole pairs is hindered by doping MgO onto g-C3N4 Also. NO conversion. DeNOx index, apparent quantum efficiency. trapping tests, and electron spin resonance measurements were carried out to understand the photocatalytic mechanism of the materials. The high reusability of the MgO@g-C3T4 heterojunction was shown by a five-cycle recycling test. This study provides a simple way to synthesize photocatalytic heterojunction materials with high reusability and the potential of heterojunction photocatalysts in the field of environmental remediation.
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Introduction
The rapid development of industrialization has been continuously increasing the combustion of fossil fuels, which leads to a large extent of nitrogen oxide emissions. This particular type of air pollutant leads to environmental damage (e.g.. smog and acid) and health problems (e.g.. COPD and cardiovascular diseases) [1-3]. Presently, there are different approaches to mitigate NO pollution, including catalyst/non-catalyst [4], oxidation [5], bioprocesses [6], adsorption [7], absorption [8], and non-thermal plasma technologies [9]. Photocatalytic oxidation is considered a promising approach due to its ability to degrade various air pollutants with light under ambient conditions [10].
Due to its unique properties, such as high chemical stability and low synthesis cost, graphitic carbon nitride has attracted considerable attention in the realm of environmental remediation [1113]. It is an organic semiconductor that effectively absorbs visible light due to its small bandgap below 2.7 eV. Because of this, it has...