3.1. Metallic CNs Characterization
Six CN
x were prepared in the experiment and showed typical peaks of CN
x at 2θ= 10
o and 80
o (
Figure 2a). However, sharp peaks of CoO, elemental Ag, MoO
3, elemental Bi and ZnO were found on the corresponding CN
x. This revealed the formation of metallic CN
x. After the treatment for 120 min, nearly 75.60% 2,4-DCP were removed in the presence of Zn-rich CN
x, higher than these with the addition of pure CN
x, and Co, Ag, Mo, and Bi doped CN
x (
Figure 2b). Such degradation date fitted good with the pseudo-first kinetic model with the regression coefficients of > 0.99. However, the corresponding degradation rates by adding Co, Ag, Mo, and Bi-doped CN
x were in the range of 0.0044-0.0051 min
-1, nearly half of that with the addition of Zn-rich CN
x. This demonstrated that the doping of Zn apparently enhanced the photocatalytic performance of CN
x.
3.2. Photocatalytic Conditions Optimization
The Zn-rich CN
x showed superior performance in the degradation of 2,4-DCP in salt wastewater.
Figure 3a showed that the degradation efficiency of 2,4-DCP slightly varied in the salt dosage of 0.58‰-11.7‰, demonstrating that Zn-rich CN
x showed good stability in the high-salt wastewater. However, with the decrease of pH from 9 to 3, the degradation efficiency also dropped from 84.66 to 70.08%. But when the initial pH was increased from 9 to 11, the degradation efficiency was considerably increased to 99.41% (
Figure 3b). After reaction, the final pH was also equilibrized in the range of 6.01-6.59 (
Figure 3c). Without the addition of Zn-rich CN
x, the equilibrium pH was steadily dropped. The related mechanism will be discussed in
Section 3.4.
As the increase of the initial 2,4-DCP concentration in the range of 20.00-200.00 mg/L, the corresponding degradation efficiency was also dropped from 100.00 to 51.90% (
Figure 3d). The high removal of 103.81 mg/L 2,4-DCP occurred with the addition of 200 mg/L 2,4-DCP (
Figure 3e). Without the photocatalyst, the direct adsorption of 2,4-DCP onto the Zn-rich CN
x were 2.09, 9.00, 12.19 and 13.00 with the addition of 20.00, 50.00, 100.00 and 200.00 mg/L 2,4-DCP (
Figure 3f), in accordance with the removal of 2.09%, 1.80%, 1.19% and 0.68% 2,4-DCP from the wastewater. This demonstrated that the photocatalytic degradation played a key role in the removal of 2,4-DCP from salt wastewater.
3.4. Photocatalytic Mechanism Analysis
In the photocatalysis system, the photon was adsorbed by CN
x, and then converted into a pair of electron-hole. The generated hole only oxidized the adsorbed organics on CN
x surface. But the electron was transited to CN
x surface and then captured by OH
- and oxygen groups, with the formation/releasing of free radicals into the wastewater. This started the oxidation of organics in wastewater. Given that the direct adsorption of 2,4-DCP on CN
x was low (
Figure 3f), the generated free radicals played positive roles in the degradation of 2,4-DCP in the salt wastewater.
The doping of Zn into CN
x showed two advantages. First, the photo absorbance of CN
x increased and strengthened. The doped ZnO restructured the surface sites of CN
x, and then more ZnO and oxygen vacancy sites were exposed to surface. Accordingly, the band-gap energy raised from 2.74 eV to 3.35 eV (
Figure 5a), and the UV-vis absorbance in the range of 300-360nm also became intensified (
Figure 5b), demonstrating that more photons were adsorbed by Zn-rich CN
x. Second, a heterojunction structure was formed in Zn-rich CN
x and steadily increased the production of free radicals. For example, an electron was generated on the conduction band of ZnO, but moved to the valence band of CN
x in the heterojunction structure, not to that of ZnO (
Figure 5c). This extended the transportation distance of photo-induced electron/hole pairs. Thereby, more photo-induced electron transported to the surface and then involved in the production of free radicals. No heterojunction structure was formed in the doping of Co, Ag, Mo and Bi into CN
x, and thereby the corresponding removal efficiencies of 2,4-DCP were low.
2,4-DCP was targeted to determine the photocatalytic performance of CNx. It has a benzene ring with two chlorine and one hydrogen group, and was also adsorbed onto the Zn-rich CNx. Such adsorption performance was mainly affected by the experimental conditions, e.g., the salt condition, the initial pH, and the initial concentration. For instance, at high salt condition, the free anions and cations were also adsorbed onto the CNx surface, in comparison with 2,4-DCP. This led to the decrease of the adsorption capacity of 2,4-DCP. Similarly, the initial pH also varied the structure and the pHzpc of 2,4-DCP. However, the removal efficiency of 2,4-DCP onto the Zn-rich CNx via adsorption, was relatively low, comparing with that of photocatalytic degradation. This demonstrated that the oxidation of free radicals predominated the removal of 2,4-DCP.
The quench experiment showed that only two free radicals of ·O
2- and ·OH were generated (
Figure 5d). Especially, the radical ·O
2- occupied by 88% of 2,4-DCP removal, whilst the radical ·OH only contributed the removal of 7% 2,4-DCP (
Figure 5e). The radical ·OH can be converted to the radical Cl, to continue the oxidation of 2,4-DCP. Thereby, the photocatalytic degradation of 2,4-DCP by the Zn-rich CN
x was stable in high salt wastewater. With the raise of wastewater pH, more OH
- were involved in the production of free radicals, and then steadily decreased the equilibrium pH.
The degradation of 2,4-DCP mainly included two ways. One of which is the direct decomposition by UVA, which did second role in the 2,4-DCP removal. The adjacent position of hydroxyl group on 2,4-DCP, was firstly activated by UVA, to form two intermediates, 3,5-Dichloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)phenol and 2,4-Dichlorophenoxycarboxylic acid. The intermediates were unstable and then converted to P-chlorophenol and o-chlorophenol , and p-phenol and o-phenol, respectively. Under such condition, the benzene ring did not open, instead, was combined in the form of 3,5-Dichloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)phenol. The following decomposition commonly experienced several hours. The other is the photocatalytic degradation by UVA in the presence of Zn-rich CNx, predominating the 2,4-DCP removal. With the treatment, the adequate of free radicals, e.g., ·O2- and ·OH, were generated and attacked randomly the chlorine and hydroxyl groups. This simultaneously started the dechloridation and the ring opening of benzene ring, with the generation of abundant byproducts, e.g., maleic/fumaric acids, trihydroxyethylene, propanoic acid, acetic acid and oxalic acid. As the generation of free radicals continued, the rapid decomposition of 2,4-DCP and its byproducts also proceeded, to release free chloridion and carbonate into wastewater.
Figure 6.
Derivation of 2,4-DCP degradation pathways in photolysis (UVA) and photocatalysis (Zn-CN/UVA) systems.
Figure 6.
Derivation of 2,4-DCP degradation pathways in photolysis (UVA) and photocatalysis (Zn-CN/UVA) systems.
3.5. Prospectives
The Zn-rich CNx showed desirable photocatalytic performance in the degradation of organics from high-salt wastewater. In high-salt wastewater, the salt often occupied the surface sites of catalyst, to stop the adsorption-oxidization of organics, resulting in the catalyst deactivation. To reactivate catalyst, it is washed several times with deionized water. In this study, the Zn-rich CNx showed a low adsorption capacity of 2,4-DCP, revealing that it had a few surface adsorption sites. Thereby, it also kept good photocatalytic performance in high-salt wastewater.
The Zn-rich CN
x had a broad absorbance spectrum, and exhibited ability to adsorb more photon with different energy in such range. In addition, it had a ZnO-CN
x heterojunction, to extend the migration distance of the light-induced electron-hole pair. This promoted the separation of light-induced electron-hole pair, resulting in the generation of adequate free radicals for oxidation/decomposition of organics. Thereby, the Zn-rich CNx showed high photocatalytic degradation rate of 2,4-DCP, in comparison with the other synthesized catalysts, e.g., Pb@BC-20%TiO
2, Cu/ZnS, ZnO, CuPc/g-C
3N
4 and Au/TiO
2/PO
4 (
Table 1). In the photocatalytic degradation, the free radicals unselectively attacked 2,4-DCP and other organics, including rhodamine B, atrazine and aniline pollutants . Thus, the Zn-rich CN
x posed bright application prospect in the wastewater treatment in paper, printing and dyeing, pharmaceutical and pickled food industries [
11,
12].
Even though the Zn-rich CNx had many advantages in high-salt wastewater treatment, some investigation also should be taken in future. First, the stability of Zn-rich CNx should be optimized, including the leaching of Zn and the reusability in wastewater treatment. Second, the synthesis of Zn-rich CNx was tedious and energy-consuming. New synthesis method should be developed at mild condition to simplify the synthesis process and save energy. Third, costly reagents were used in the synthesis. The liquid reagents should be recycled, whilst the metallic chemical can be extracted from spent waste.