Nanomaterials for Photocatalytic Degradation of Pharmaceuticals Present in Wastewater

Due to continuous global energy demand and industrial development, considerable interest has been attended to the health impacts of organic and inorganic pollutants in the environment. Such pollutants can severely damage our aquatic environment. Recently some research output has shown a measurable level of organic contaminants in the outlet of processed water. Therefore, it is necessary to design and synthesize artificial photocatalysts with high activity. Implementation of photocatalytic properties of semiconductor materials has shown the potential method to purify wastewater. This includes materials like metal oxides, metal sulfides, and oxygen nitrides. Recently, carbon-based materials like graphitic carbon nitride are found to show promising photocatalytic properties due to the conduction of higher electrical charges, aligned reduction and oxidation potential, band value in the visible light region, physical and chemical structure stability, and the easy production steps that allow the need for large-scale production from low-cost precursors. However, the photocatalytic efficiency of the pure sample is limited by the high recombination rate of the photo-induced electron-hole pairs. This project aims to design and fabricate pure and modified carbon nitride photocatalytic materials by direct thermal heating and microwave-assisted technique and to study the photocatalytic degradation of pharmaceuticals under visible light irradiation. The strategic objective of this investigation is to develop novel photocatalytic material from nonmetal-based material by chemical and thermal modification approach for water treatment from the organic pharmaceutical compound application. This will be achieved through fundamental experimental research focusing on the characterization of produced products and modifying it to use in different applications mainly for water treatment.