Enhancing photocatalytic g-C3N4/PVDF membranes through new insights into the preparation methods

Abstract

Fibrous membranes are crucial on the filtration of pollutants from air and water, but continued use can lead to a failure in effectiveness due to pollutant accumulation. To enhance durability, incorporating photocatalytic submicroparticles into these membranes appear as a solution. Here, we prepared a set of polyvinyl difluoride (PVDF) fibrous membranes modified with graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) using three different methodologies. Their photocatalytic efficiency was investigated using phenol as model pollutant compound under visible light irradiation. Using g-C3N4 fibrous membranes modified by electrospinning blend a pseudo first-order kinetic constant (kapp) of 2.51 x 10-4 min-1 was observed for phenol degradation after 240 min reaction. Despite minimal particle adhesion the thermal treatment increased kapp to 5.41 x 10-4 min-1. The membranes prepared via chemical activation of PVDF exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity (kapp of 21.7 x 10-4 min-1). This superior activity was attributed to covalent bonds between PVDF and g-C3N4, allowing the formation of oxidative species.