Multivalent Effect of Defect Engineered Ag₂S/g-C₃N₄ 3D Porous Floating Catalyst with Enhanced Contaminant Removal...

Chlorophenols, as a major environmental pollutant, enter water systems through industrial wastewater, agricultural runoff and chemical spills, and they are stable, persistent under natural conditions, and highly hazardous to water resources. The objective of this article is to prepare Ag₂S-modified C₃N₄ three-dimensional network photocatalyst by calcination method to use photocatalysis as an efficient, safe, and environmentally friendly method to degrade chlorophenols. Ag₂S/C₃N₄ has an excellent visible light absorption range, low band gap, effective separation of photogenerated charges, and active free radicals production, all of which make for the enhancement of photocatalytic degradation performance of the Ag₂S/C₃N₄ system. Under the light irradiation (λ ≥ 420 nm), the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of 2,4,6-Trichlorophenol reach 95% within 150 min, and the stable photocatalytic degradation activity can still be maintained under different pH water environment and four degradation cycles. When Ag₂S is loaded on ACNs, more photogenerated electrons are generated and subsequent reactions produce highly reactive groups such as •O₂^- and •OH that will originally be able to continuously attack TCP molecules to degrade pollutants. Therefore, this study shows that the photocatalyst provides a novel research approach for realizing the application in the field of pollutant degradation.