DOI: https://doi.org/10.55373/mjchem.v26i5.23

Keywords: Copper doped; graphitic carbon nitride; photocatalytic activity; degradation of phenol

Abstract

Phenol is one of the toxic chemicals that can cause water pollution in Malaysia. It can be degraded using a photocatalyst such as graphitic carbon nitride, g-C3N4, which has an appropriate band gap for low-energy activation. Nonetheless, g-C3N4 has low photocatalytic activity due to the fast charge carrier recombination and low surface area. However, g-C3N4 can be doped with metal such as copper to increase the photocatalytic performance in degrading phenol. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate the photocatalytic efficiency of synthesized pure g-C3N4 and copper-doped g-C3N4 (Cu/g-C3N4) for the degradation of phenol under fluorescent and sunlight irradiation. Pure g-C3N4 and Cu/g-C3N4 were synthesized using the thermal decomposition of melamine and the liquid exfoliation method and characterized using FTIR, XRD, FESEM and EDX. The FTIR confirmed the presence of all vibration peaks of g-C3N4. The XRD patterns show that the copper-doped has no significant influence on the structure of pure g-C3N4, while the EDX analysis shows the presence of copper in g-C3N4. The phenol was treated under fluorescent and sunlight irradiation in the presence of a synthesized photocatalyst. The degradation efficiencies of phenol using 0.5Cu/g-C3N4 under the fluorescent light irradiation was 50.76%, while under sunlight irradiation, the degradation efficiency was 55.38% for 120 minutes. The results show the potential of Cu/g-C3N4 as a photocatalyst for phenol degradation under visible light irradiation. This study can contribute to the solution of how to address pollution and protect the water ecosystem.