Abstract
This investigation focused on efficiently removing ciprofloxacin (CIP) appropriating Pt@BiVO4-g-C3N4 nanocomposite under visible light. Evidently, a hard and soft template-assisted routine was administered to synthesize mesoporous Pt@BiVO4-g-C3N4 heterojunction that exhibited excellent crystallinity and enlarged surface area. Remarkable photocatalytic degradation was realized upon applying the synthesized heterojunction when irradiated by visible light. Dispersion of monoclinic BiVO4 nanoparticles (NPs) doped with Pt metal on the mesoporous 2D g-C3N4 surface was revealed from TEM and XRD measurements. BiVO4 was recognized as small-sized NPs in the range of 8 up to 12 nm dimension. Improved ciprofloxacin decomposition was observed on applying the synthesized Pt@BiVO4-g-C3N4 heterojunction in correlation to pristine g-C3N4 or BiVO4 NPs. Complete photocatalytic decomposition of ciprofloxacin was almost reached when the optimized 0.5 wt% Pt@4 wt% BiVO4-g-C3N4 heterojunction was exposed to irradiation by visible light for 90 min. The photocatalytic efficiency of ciprofloxacin decomposition over the optimized heterojunction was about 5.0 and 3.7 times analogous to those of pristine g-C3N4 and BiVO4. Suppressed recombination amid the charge carriers within the developed Pt@BiVO4-g-C3N4 p-n heterojunction along with the great capability of visible light absorption is regarded as the major cause of the impressive ciprofloxacin decomposition efficiency upon application of such heterojunction. The suggested mechanism of photocatalytic decomposition of ciprofloxacin over Pt@BiVO4-g-C3N4 heterojunction was declared from photoluminescence spectra and transient photocurrent measurements. Mesoporous Pt@BiVO4-g-C3N4 could be accepted as an efficient photocatalyst that displays extraordinary photocatalytic decomposition of ciprofloxacin as an example of an organic contaminant.