Europium-doped g-C₃N₄: an efficient remover of textile dyes from water

Abstract

Europium (Eu) doped graphitic carbon nitride has been synthesised using a simple chemical method with two different concentrations of guest material. The as prepared pure and doped samples were characterized by x-ray diffraction and the proper phase formation was confirmed. SEM micrographs showed the microstructure of the samples, whereas the attached energy dispersive x-ray analysis confirmed the successful doping. The optical properties of the samples were studied from UV-visible spectroscopy whereas the different chemical bonds present were confirmed from Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopic analysis. The samples showed good photo-luminescence (PL) property with PL intensity decreases with increasing dopant concentration. It is seen that the sample has potential as the remover of textile dyes like Rhodamine B in the presence of photons in UV range. The removal efficiency increases with increasing doping concentration up to a certain value. The doped sample with 2.65 weight percentage of Eu present, can remove the dye with efficiency more than 90% and almost 100% for contact time 3 and 4 h, respectively. Effort has been given to proposing a mechanism behind the observed photocatalysis performance of the samples.

Preparation of RE/g-C3N4 Photocatalysts by Thermal Polycondensation Method and Its Properties

“…The XRD pattern of RE/g-C3N4 doped with rare earths La, Ce and Sm and pure g-C3N4 are showed in Figure 1(a). The diffraction peaks of the sample at 2θ=13.1° and 2θ=27.5° belong to the crystal plane index (100) and (002) crystal plane characteristic peaks of g-C3N4, respectively [13][14][15]. Among them, the diffraction peak at 27.5° is the strongest, which is the characteristic peak of the aromatics interlayer accumulation of, indicating that g-C3N4 samples exhibits a layered structure similar to graphite.…”

“…As a new technology for pollution control, photocatalytic technology has the advantages of more efficient energy saving, environmental protection, clean and harmless, environmental friendliness and process simplification. Cmpared with other physical and chemical methods, it can effectively oxidize and completely mineralize organic pollutants into H2O, CO2, N2 and other environmentally nonpolluting substances [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Carbon nitride is a new type of non-metallic semiconductor material.…”