Visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of diclofenac by carbon quantum dots modified porous g-C3N4: Mechanisms, degradation pathway and DFT calculation

Metal-free photocatalysts have attracted growing concern in recent years. In this work, a new class of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) modified porous graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is synthesized via a facile polymerization method. With the optimal CQDs loading, the CQDs modified g-C3N4 exhibits ∼15 times higher degradation kinetic towards diclofenac (DCF) than that of pure g-C3N4. The enhanced photocatalytic activity can be ascribed to the improved separation of charge carriers as well as the tuned band structure. Moreover, a photosensitation-like mechanism is proposed to elucidate the photo-generated electrons transfer and reactive radicals formation. CQDs are anchored to g-C3N4 surface via C-O bond, which provide channels for the preferential transfer of photo-excited electrons on DCF molecule to the conduction band of…