increasing light intensity. Similarly, performance of the catalyst can be increased up
to 3.3 times by increasing the concentration of the catalyst.
7.2.3 Carbon Based Materials as Earth Abundant Materials
Carbon abundance is 0.18% is better than sulfur and selenium. Moreover, carbon is
chemically versatile and have excellent synthetic handles because of its rich chemistry knowledge. But carbon-based nanomaterials long been discouraged due to it
homogenous nature and its challenging to recycle. But the new materials like
graphene provided a revival of carbon based heterogenous catalysis. Recently
many efforts emerging based on the carbon or carbon integrated catalysts. Typical
example is reported by Hui et al. and they reported metal free C 3 N 4 photocatalyst for
the phenol degradation (Zhang et al. 2016a).The C 3 N 4 photocatalyst has band gap of
2.7% and has high photochemical stability, makes the ideal candidate for the
photocatalysis. The C 3 N 4 has the layered structure and due to Vander Waals
interaction between the adjacent layers and layer structure provided the effective
light capture, charge separation and optimized for the degradation. The band alignment in the regime of the photocatalyst is about CdS and Cu 2 O and could be viable
replacement for conventional non-abundant photocatalytic materials. The nano
regime of 3.6 nm provided another handle to tuned the photocatalyst to high
performance. The C 3 N 4 catalyst degrade the phenol efficiently when compared to
dark conditions. About, 0.5% of the C 3 N 4 catalyst degraded the phenol in 3 hours
and follow the pseudo first order kinetics.
Recently, more number of publication using graphene and graphene based
materials for photocatalytic water purification (Upadhyay et al. 2014). The graphene
attained wide attention due its high absorption coefficient, tunable optical behavior,
high surface area, mechanical strength, stability and cost-effectiveness. It is notable
that adsorption capability of the graphene is high and made it ideal for the
photocatalyst studies. Lee. et al. reported that hydrothermal synthesis of carbon
based nanomaterial multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and its photochemical
degradation of the Rhodamine B was analyzed (Pawar et al. 2015). They reported the
composite Fe 2 O 3 /MWCNT has high performance than the individual Fe 2 O 3
nanoparticles. The demonstrated that Fe 2 O 3 /MWCNT can degrade rhodamine dye
in 2 h and it was followed by UV analysis. The claimed that Fe 2 O 3 /MWCNT catalyst
removed the methyl groups from the rhodamine B and remove consecutively. The
improved photocatalytic activity is due to high surface area and high density of
catalytic centers in the surfaces of the catalyst which enhance the absorption and
charge separation. They reported that the catalyst may be part of green and clean
technology for the purification of the water. Overall, the carbon and nano regime of
the Fe 2 O 3 /MWCNT photocatalyst provides the considerable photocatalytic
performance.
7 Earth Abundant Materials for Environmental Remediation and Commercialization
207
to 3.3 times by increasing the concentration of the catalyst.
7.2.3 Carbon Based Materials as Earth Abundant Materials
Carbon abundance is 0.18% is better than sulfur and selenium. Moreover, carbon is
chemically versatile and have excellent synthetic handles because of its rich chemistry knowledge. But carbon-based nanomaterials long been discouraged due to it
homogenous nature and its challenging to recycle. But the new materials like
graphene provided a revival of carbon based heterogenous catalysis. Recently
many efforts emerging based on the carbon or carbon integrated catalysts. Typical
example is reported by Hui et al. and they reported metal free C 3 N 4 photocatalyst for
the phenol degradation (Zhang et al. 2016a).The C 3 N 4 photocatalyst has band gap of
2.7% and has high photochemical stability, makes the ideal candidate for the
photocatalysis. The C 3 N 4 has the layered structure and due to Vander Waals
interaction between the adjacent layers and layer structure provided the effective
light capture, charge separation and optimized for the degradation. The band alignment in the regime of the photocatalyst is about CdS and Cu 2 O and could be viable
replacement for conventional non-abundant photocatalytic materials. The nano
regime of 3.6 nm provided another handle to tuned the photocatalyst to high
performance. The C 3 N 4 catalyst degrade the phenol efficiently when compared to
dark conditions. About, 0.5% of the C 3 N 4 catalyst degraded the phenol in 3 hours
and follow the pseudo first order kinetics.
Recently, more number of publication using graphene and graphene based
materials for photocatalytic water purification (Upadhyay et al. 2014). The graphene
attained wide attention due its high absorption coefficient, tunable optical behavior,
high surface area, mechanical strength, stability and cost-effectiveness. It is notable
that adsorption capability of the graphene is high and made it ideal for the
photocatalyst studies. Lee. et al. reported that hydrothermal synthesis of carbon
based nanomaterial multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and its photochemical
degradation of the Rhodamine B was analyzed (Pawar et al. 2015). They reported the
composite Fe 2 O 3 /MWCNT has high performance than the individual Fe 2 O 3
nanoparticles. The demonstrated that Fe 2 O 3 /MWCNT can degrade rhodamine dye
in 2 h and it was followed by UV analysis. The claimed that Fe 2 O 3 /MWCNT catalyst
removed the methyl groups from the rhodamine B and remove consecutively. The
improved photocatalytic activity is due to high surface area and high density of
catalytic centers in the surfaces of the catalyst which enhance the absorption and
charge separation. They reported that the catalyst may be part of green and clean
technology for the purification of the water. Overall, the carbon and nano regime of
the Fe 2 O 3 /MWCNT photocatalyst provides the considerable photocatalytic
performance.
7 Earth Abundant Materials for Environmental Remediation and Commercialization
207