Removing lignin model pollutants with BiFeO3-g-C3N4 compound as an efficient visible-light-heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst

BiFeO3-g-C3N4 nanoscaled composite was prepared with a hydrothermal method and evaluated as a highly efficient photo-Fenton like catalyst under visible light irradiation. The BiFeO3-g-C3N4 composite exhibited much stronger adsorption ability to lignin model pollutant (guaiacol) than that of BiFeO3, which may be due to the higher specific surface area (BiFeO3-g-C3N4: 35.59 m(2)/g > BiFeO3: 7.42 m(2)/g) and the adsorption form of p-p stack between g-C3N4 and guaiacol. The composite exhibited excellent visible light-Fenton like catalysis activity, being influenced by the solution pH value and the proportions of BiFeO3 and g-C3N4 nanosheets. Under optimal conditions with visible light irradiation, the BiFeO3-g-C3N4 composite yielded fast degradation of guaiacol with an apparent rate constant of 0.0452 min(-1), which were 5.21 and 6.80 folds of that achieved by using BiFeO3 and the mixture of BiFeO3 and g-C3N4 nanosheets, respectively. The significantly enhanced visible light-Fenton like catalytic properties of the BiFeO3-g-C3N4 composite in comparison with that of BiFeO3 was attributed to a large surface area, much increased adsorption capacity and the semiconductor coupling effect between BiFeO3 and g-C3N4 in the composite. (C) 2016 The Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V.