Fabrication of g-C3N4/NiO/ZnO based Ternary Nanocomposite for Efficient Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue

Abstract

Photocatalysis has emerged as a widely recognized and environmentally friendly technique for the degradation of biological contaminants into less hazardous substances. The technique offers a sustainable path for contamination reduction by utilizing sunlight-activated catalysts to initiate reactions for the degradation of pollutants. In this work, a facile co-precipitation approach was utilized to synthesize a ternary nanocomposite-based photocatalyst to improve photocatalytic performance. The metal oxide semiconductors ZnO and NiO were successfully integrated into the g-C₃N₄ matrix to develop a photocatalyst that showed substantially increased photocatalytic activity. The synthesized ternary nanocomposite was investigated for different physicochemical techniques such as photoluminescence (PL), ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) absorption spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The structural, morphological, and optical characteristics of the ternary nanocomposite were thoroughly explored by these physiochemical techniques. The synthesized CNZ ternary nanocomposites-based photocatalyst revealed a significantly enhanced photocatalytic degradation rate of 92%, outperforming all other samples. The ternary nanocomposite demonstrated excellent reusability even after five successive reaction cycles, unveiling the superior potential in the photocatalytic application for an extended period without significantly losing its effectiveness. The synergistic integration of NiO and ZnO into g-C₃N₄ boosted the photocatalytic activity by enhancing electron-hole separation and reducing recombination reactions. The hybrid photocatalyst offers a great deal of promise for effectively eliminating harmful pollutants from aqueous solutions.