Enhanced Degradation of Diazinon in Aqueous Solution Using C-Tio2/G-C3n4 Nanocomposite Under Visible Light: Synthesis, Characterization, Kinetics, and Mechanism Studies

Sol-gel synthesis of C-TiO2/g-C3N4 nanocomposite using carboxymethyl cellulose as a carbon source and with different contents of C-TiO2 nanoparticles for the degradation of diazinon with the use of visible radiation was investigated in this study. Characteristics of the synthesized catalyst were analyzed by FE-SEM, XRD, EDX, FT-IR, BET, PL, TGA, and DRS techniques. We obtained the degradation efficiency of diazinon with C-TiO2 (30 wt%)/g-C3N4 under optimal conditions (dose of catalyst 0.1 g L-1, diazinon initial concentration 15 mg L-1, time of reaction 30 min, pH = 5.5) 98.34%, which showed premiere photocatalytic degradation efficiency compared to carbon nitride and C-TiO2. According to the data, the degradation process of diazinon by C-TiO2/g-C3N4 nanocomposite corresponds to first-order kinetics. The catalyst showed good reusability after five consecutive cycles. In addition, we investigated the effects of several scavengers on photocatalytic degradation yield and proposed the possible mechanism of diazinon destruction by C-TiO2 (30 wt%)/g-C3N4.