Hydrothermal synthesis of g-C3N4 nanosheets for efficient elimination of tetracycline

Abstract

Bulk g-C₃N₄ (CN) was prepared by thermal polymerization, and exfoliated through hydrothermal treatment under HCl condition to obtain g-C₃N₄ nanosheets. Tetracycline (TC), as the target antibiotic, was utilized to evaluate photocatalytic performance of catalysts. The influence of hydrothermal temperature, hydrothermal time, and HCl concentration on photocatalytic degradation was systematically discussed. The results showed that when CN was exfoliated at 160 °C for 2 h in 6 M HCl, TC degradation reached 84.5% in 60 min. The improved photocatalytic degradation was ascribed to the increasing specific surface area that offered more active sites and shorted the charge transfer distance.