Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A comparative study on the effect of different precursors for synthesis and efficient photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4/TiO2/bentonite nanocomposites

  • Energy materials
  • Published:
Journal of Materials Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) was synthesized from three different precursors such as urea, thiourea and mixture of urea and thiourea containing each in the ratio 1:1. The variation in the thermal decomposition and condensation pathways of precursors led to the formation of g-C3N4 with different morphological and photophysical aspects. These were loaded upon TiO2/bentonite nanocomposite to make it visible active. The g-C3N4 synthesized from urea (UC3) was found to be highly influential sensitizer due to its thin and long nanosheet-like morphology, and the nanocomposite prepared by loading of g-C3N4 on TiO2/bentonite (UC3TB) effectively degraded about 85% of the reactive brilliant red-X3BS (RBR-X3BS) dye under visible light irradiation. The high activity was attributed due to the high surface area and pore volume of the nanocomposite along with effective charge separation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9
Figure 10
Figure 11

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Ökte AN, Tuncel D, Pekcan AH, Özden T (2014) J Chem Technol Biotechnol 89:1155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Chen D, Zhu H, Wang X (2014) Appl Surf Sci 319:158

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Barbosa LV, Marçal L, Nassar EJ et al (2015) Catal Today 246:133

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Mishra A, Sharma M, Mehta A, Basu S (2017) J Nanosci Nanotechnol 17:1149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Tahir M, Amin NS (2013) Appl Catal B 142:512

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Mehta A, Mishra A, Sharma M, Singh S, Basu S (2016) J Nanopart Res 18:209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Mishra A, Mehta A, Sharma M, Basu S (2017) J Alloys Compd 694:574

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Zhang G, Ding X, Hu Y et al (2008) J Phys Chem C 112:17994

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Belver C, Bedia J, Rodríguez JJ (2017) J Hazard Mater 322:233

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Cheng Z-L, Sun W (2015) J Mater Eng Perform 24:4090

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Li J, Wang W (2009) Solid State Sci 11:2037

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Mishra A, Mehta A, Sharma M, Basu S (2017) J Environ Chem Eng 5:644

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Mishra A, Mehta A, Kainth S, Basu S (2018) Appl Clay Sci 153:144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Li C, Zhou T, Zhu T, Li X (2015) RSC Adv 5:98482

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Li C, Wang J, Guo H, Ding S (2015) J Colloid Interface Sci 458:1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Zhang J, Zhang L, Zhou S, Chen H, Zhao Y, Wang X (2014) Appl Clay Sci 90:135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Chen D, Du Y, Zhu H, Deng Y (2014) Appl Clay Sci 87:285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Sun Z, Li C, Yao G, Zheng S (2016) Mater Des 94:403

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Wen J, Xie J, Chen X, Li X (2017) Appl Surf Sci 391:72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Y Zhang, Q Pan, G Chai, et al. (2013) Scientific reports 3

  21. Iqbal W, Qiu B, Lei J, Wang L, Zhang J, Anpo M (2017) Dalton Trans 46:10678

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Cao S, Yu J (2014) J Phys Chem Lett 5:2101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Li H, Wu X, Yin S, Katsumata K, Wang Y (2017) Appl Surf Sci 392:531

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Panneri S, Ganguly P, Nair BN, Mohamed AAP, Warrier KGK, Hareesh UNS (2017) Environ Sci Pollut Res 24:8609

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Zheng Y, Zhang Z, Li C (2017) J Photochem Photobiol A 332:32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Dong F, Zhao Z, Xiong T et al (2013) ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 5:11392

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Zhou M, Hou Z, Zhang L, Liu Y, Gao Q, Chen X (2017) Sustain Energy Fuels 1:317

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Zhang J, Chen X, Takanabe K et al (2010) Angew Chem Int Ed 49:441

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Hong J, Xia X, Wang Y, Xu R (2012) J Mater Chem 22:15006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Zhang J, Sun J, Maeda K et al (2011) Energy Environ Sci 4:675

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Zhang J, Zhang M, Zhang G, Wang X (2012) ACS Catalysis 2:940

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Zou H, Yan X, Ren J et al (2015) J Materiomics 1:340

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Xiong T, Cen W, Zhang Y, Dong F (2016) Acs Catal 6:2462

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Theerthagiri J, Senthil R, Priya A, Madhavan J, Michael R, Ashokkumar M (2014) RSC Adv 4:38222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Jayaraman T, Raja SA, Priya A, Jagannathan M, Ashokkumar M (2015) New J Chem 39:1367

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Senthil R, Theerthagiri J, Selvi A, Madhavan J (2017) Opt Mater 64:533

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Lei J, Liu F, Wang L, Liu Y, Zhang J (2017) RSC Adv 7:27377

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Raziq F, Li C, Humayun M et al (2015) Mater Res Bull 70:494

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Ma S, Xue J, Zhou Y et al (2015) RSC Adv 5:64976

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Boonprakob N, Wetchakun N, Phanichphant S et al (2014) J Colloid Interface Sci 417:402

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Zhou L, Wang L, Lei J, Liu Y, Zhang J (2017) Catal Commun 89:125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Christoforidis K, Melchionna M, Montini T et al (2016) RSC Advances 6:86617

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Li Y, Zhan J, Huang L et al (2014) RSC Adv 4:11831

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Li C, Sun Z, Zhang W, Yu C, Zheng S (2018) Appl Catal B 220:272

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Wang X, Blechert S, Antonietti M (2012) Acs Catal 2:1596

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Cao S, Low J, Yu J, Jaroniec M (2015) Adv Mater 27:2150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Zhang G, Zhang J, Zhang M, Wang X (2012) J Mater Chem 22:8083

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Yan J, Wu G, Guan N, Li L, Li Z, Cao X (2013) Phys Chem Chem Phys 15:10978

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Rather RA, Singh S, Pal B (2017) Appl Catal B 213:9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Wang Z, Xu Q, Meng T, Ren T, Chen D (2015) Energy Environ Focus 4:149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Li H, Zhou L, Wang L, Liu Y, Lei J, Zhang J (2015) Phys Chem Chem Phys 17:17406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Cao Y, Li Q, Wang W (2017) RSC Adv 7:6131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Li Z, Jiang G, Zhang Z, Wu Y, Han Y (2016) J Mol Catal A: Chem 425:340

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Shen M, Henderson MA (2011) J Phys Chem Lett 2:2707

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Som S, Raha C, Chatterjee I (1983) Acta Vitaminol Enzymol 5:243

    Google Scholar 

  56. Zang M, Shi L, Liang L, Li D, Sun J (2015) RSC Adv 5:56136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. Li J, Liu Y, Li H, Chen C (2016) J Photochem Photobiol A 317:151

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Augugliaro V, Bellardita M, Loddo V, Palmisano G, Palmisano L, Yurdakal S (2012) J Photochem Photobiol, C 13:224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Zhu B, Xia P, Ho W, Yu J (2015) Appl Surf Sci 344:188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  60. Ao Y, Xu J, Zhang S, Fu D (2010) Appl Surf Sci 256:2754

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Wang P, Ao Y, Wang C, Hou J, Qian J (2012) Carbon 50:5256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  62. Wang S, Gong Q, Zhu Y, Liang J (2009) Appl Surf Sci 255:8063

    Article  Google Scholar 

  63. Wang C, Zhu Q, Gu C, Luo X, Yu C, Wu M (2016) RSC Adv 6:85852

    Article  Google Scholar 

  64. Zhou L, Guo W, Xie G, Feng J (2013) Desalination Water Treat 51:6517

    Article  Google Scholar 

  65. Cao C, Xiao L, Liu L, Zhu H, Chen C, Gao L (2013) Appl Surf Sci 271:105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  66. Ao Y, Xu J, Fu D, Yuan C (2009) J Hazard Mater 167:413

    Article  Google Scholar 

  67. Xu J, Wu M, Chen M, Wang Z (2015) Powder Technol 281:167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  68. Ao Y, Xu J, Wang P et al (2015) Colloids Surf A 487:66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  69. Wang P, Tang H, Ao Y et al (2016) J Alloy Compd 688:1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  70. Yang W, Xiao X, Lu R et al (2016) RSC Adv 6:101242

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Authors are thankful to DST (Grant No: SB/FT/CS-178/2013), New Delhi for fellowship as well as other financial assistance and BRNS (Grant No: 34/14/63/2014) for providing BET instrumental facilities.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, 147004, India

    Amit Mishra, Akansha Mehta, Shagun Kainth & Soumen Basu

Authors
  1. Amit Mishra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Akansha Mehta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Shagun Kainth
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Soumen Basu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Soumen Basu.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this manuscript.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supporting Information

: Supporting information contains; (i) UV–Visible diffuse reflectance spectra and tauc plot of TiO2/bentonite nanocomposite (ii) N2 adsorption–desorption isotherm and BJH plot of TiO2/bentonite and raw bentonite, (iii) HRTEM images of TiO2/bentonite nanocomposite with size distribution of TiO2, (iv) and (v) elemental mapping of UC3TB and TUC3TB nanocomposites and (vi) UV–Visible spectra of RBR-X3BS (40 ppm) during photocatalytic degradation at various time intervals. (DOCX 3548 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mishra, A., Mehta, A., Kainth, S. et al. A comparative study on the effect of different precursors for synthesis and efficient photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4/TiO2/bentonite nanocomposites. J Mater Sci 53, 13126–13142 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-2565-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-2565-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation