Premise setting for sustainable developing adsorption in environmental remediation using graphitic carbon nitride@agar-derived porous carbon composite.

ABSTRACT

In the adsorption process for wastewater treatment, the adsorbent plays an important role. A composite adsorptive material composed of graphitic carbon nitride and agar-derived porous carbon (CNPC) was fabricated from simple precursors (melamine, thiourea, and agar) and through a facile procedure with different melamine and thiourea ratios. Characterization of CNPC proved a successful formation of a porous structure consisting of mesopores and macropores, wherein CNPC holds distinctive electrochemical (lowered resistance and higher specific capacity) and photochemical properties (lowered bandgap to 2.33 eV) thanks to the combination of graphitic carbon nitride (CN) and agar-derived porous carbon (PC). Inheriting the immanent nature, CNPC was subjected to the adsorption of methylene blue (MB) dye in an aqueous solution. The highest adsorption capacity was 133 mg/g for CNPC-4 which was prepared using a melamine to thiourea ratio of 44 - equivalent to the removal rate of 53.2 % and following the pseudo-I-order reaction rate. The effect of pH points out that pH 7 and 9 were susceptible to maximum removal and pretreatment is not required while the optimal ratio of 7.5 mg of MB and 30 mg of material was also determined to yield the highest performance. Furthermore, the reusability of the material for three consecutive cycles was evaluated based on two methods pyrolysis at 200 °C and photocatalytic degradation by irradiation under visible light. In general, the photocatalytic regeneration pathway is more ample and efficient than pyrolysis in terms of energy efficiency (saving energy over 10 times) and adsorption capacity stability. As a whole, the construction of accessible regenerative and stable adsorbent could be a venturing step into the sustainable development spearhead for industries.