Hydrothermal synthesis of BCQD@g-C3N4 nanocomposites supporting environmental sustainability: Organic dye removal and bacterial inactivation

Abstract

Various studies are being carried out on the removal of organic dyes and the production of antibacterial agents. In this study, boron-doped carbon quantum dot (BCQD) was synthesized by hydrothermal method, and BCQD@g-C₃N₄ nanocomposite structure was synthesized using graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) as the support material. The photocatalytic activity of the synthesized nanocomposite against MO, RhB dyes, and Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria was investigated. The surface, morphology, molecular, and crystal properties of BCQD@g-C₃N₄ were investigated using characterization methods such as Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Fluorescence (FL) spectrophotometer, and X-ray diffraction (XRD). As a result of TEM analysis, it was determined that the average particle size of BCQD was 5.1 ± 1.14 nm and showed a homogeneous distribution on 2D g-C₃N₄. In the XRD spectrum for BCQDs, the diffraction peak corresponding to the (002) amorphous carbon phase was observed at 21.65° In the PL spectrum of B-CQD@g-C₃N₄s, the emission value was observed at 458 nm. In the study conducted by taking advantage of the photocatalytic feature of BCQD@g-C₃N₄ nanocomposite, Rhodamine B (RhB) and Methyl orange (MO) were degraded by 65.58 % and 73.56 %, respectively, at the end of 120 min. Additionally, BCQD@g-C₃N₄ photocatalyst completely inhibited the growth of E. coli bacteria, which are frequently encountered in wastewater, at 90 minutes under sunlight. Escherichia coli (E. coli), which is frequently encountered in wastewater, BCQD@g-C₃N₄ completely prevented bacterial growth in the 90^th minute under sunlight.