TiO2/g‑C3N4 Binary Composite as an Efficient Photocatalyst for Biodiesel Production from Jatropha Oil and Dye Degradation

Abstract

In the present work, TiO2/g-C3N4 nanocomposites were synthesized by using highly crystalline TiO2 nanorods/rice (NRs) and various percentages of g-C3N4 via a facile, scalable, and inexpensive pyrolysis method. The synthesized nanocomposites were characterized by various techniques, e.g., X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), N2 adsorption and desorption analysis (BET), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV−vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and chronoamperometry (CA). It was found that biodiesel production by the esterification reaction can be remarkably enhanced by coupling TiO2 with g-C3N4; hereby, it was observed that with increasing percentage of g-C3N4 from 5 to 10 and 15% with respect to TiO2 NRs, the photocatalytic activity rose and the maximum photocatalytic activity with 97% conversion was observed for NC-3, i.e., 15% g-C3N4/TiO2. Moreover, the photoactivity of pristine TiO2 NR aggregates was contrasted with their nanoparticle morphology and was estimated to be slightly better. When applied for photocatalytic Congo red dye degradation, this sample showed a 91% degradation efficiency using only a very small amount of the catalyst. The high catalytic efficiency is attributed to the narrow band gap, exceptionally high surface area, and efficient charge separation properties of the prepared catalysts.