A facile strategy for photocatalytic degradation of seven neonicotinoids over sulfur and oxygen co-doped carbon nitride.

Mounting evidence highlights the negative impacts of neonicotinoids on non-target organisms and ecosystem, yet there are a few of methods to address the residual neonicotinoids in environment. Herein, series of sulfur and oxygen co-doped carbon nitride (SOCNx) were successfully synthesized via one-step thermal polymerization and applied in photodegradation of multi-neonicotinoids (dinotefuran, acetamiprid, clothianidin, thiacloprid, imidacloprid, nitenpyram and thiamethoxam) simultaneously for the first time. Unique tubular structure was observed at the specific doping ratio, which enhanced both mass transfer and specific surface area of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4). The doping process changed the morphology of g-C3N4 materials and also affected its photocatalytic performance. The degradation rate of optimized material (SOCN8) for nitenpyram could surpass 90% just in 30 min under visible light in aqueous matrix. The degradation for target insecticide increased maximum efficiency of 57.6% compared to bulk g-C3N4. Moreover, the possible mechanism of the degradation process was proposed. The results revealed that photon-induced hole (h+) was the primary active species during the degradation of seven investigated neonicotinoids. Moreover, the SOCN8 showed excellent recyclability after four consecutive cycles, which implied promising applications for pesticide-contaminated water remedy.

Photodegradation of clothianidin and thiamethoxam in agricultural soils.

Presented in this paper is a study on the photodegradation of two widely used neonicotinoid insecticides clothianidin and thiamethoxam in three soils and in solid phase. The effects of light with differing wavelengths were examined using the natural sunlight and single ultraviolet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB) light sources. The results indicated that UVB played a key role in the photodegradation of clothianidin and thiamethoxam while the effects of visible and UVA lights were negligible. The degradations of clothianidin and thiamethoxam under all the light sources followed the first-order kinetics, and the half-lives of clothianidin and thiamethoxam in the three soils under the sunlight ranged from 97 to 112 h and 88 to 103 h, respectively. When clothianidin and thiamethoxam were directly exposed to the sunlight without soil, the degradation rates were remarkably higher with half-lives being 13 and 10 h, respectively. Therefore, the insecticides fallen on the surface of soils would be degraded under sunlight much faster than those that enter the soils. The examination of the degradation products revealed four compounds from the photodegradation of clothianidin and three from thiamethoxam, and clothianidin was one of the photodegradation products of thiamethoxam.

Effect of Abiotic Factors on Degradation of Imidacloprid.

The role of soil moisture, light and pH on imidacloprid dissipation was investigated. A high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) based method was developed to quantify imidacloprid present in soil with a recovery of more than 82%. Rate of dissipation of imidacloprid from soil was faster in submerged condition compared to field capacity and air dried condition. Imidacloprid dissipated non-significantly between sterile and non-sterile soils, but at field capacity, the dissipation was faster in non-sterile soil compared to sterile soil after 60 days of incubation. Similarly, under submergence, the dissipation of imidacloprid was 66.2% and 79.8% of the initial in sterile and non-sterile soils, respectively. Imidacloprid was rather stable in acidic and neutral water but was prone to photo-degradation. Therefore, imidacloprid degradation will be faster under direct sunlight and at higher soil moisture.