One-Pot Thermal Synthesis of g-C3N4/ZnO Composites for the Degradation of 5-Fluoruracil Cytostatic Drug under UV-LED Irradiation
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Pérez Molina, Álvaro; Pastrana Martínez, Luisa María; Pérez Poyatos, Lorena T.; Morales Torres, Sergio; Maldonado Hodar, Francisco JoséEditorial
MDPI
Materia
Carbon nitride Zinc oxide Photocatalysis 5-fluorouracil Water treatment Scavengers
Date
2022-01-21Referencia bibliográfica
Pérez-Molina, Á... [et al.]. One-Pot Thermal Synthesis of g-C3N4/ZnO Composites for the Degradation of 5-Fluoruracil Cytostatic Drug under UV-LED Irradiation. Nanomaterials 2022, 12, 340. [https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12030340]
Sponsorship
Spanish Government RTI2018-099224-B-I00 MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER; Junta de Andalucia B-RNM486-UGR20Abstract
Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) was used to enhance the photocatalytic activity of ZnO
nanoparticles for the degradation of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) cytostatic drug under UV-LED irradiation.
CN/ZnO composites were synthetized by an easy one-pot thermal method, varying the g-C3N4
loading, i.e., from 10 to 67 wt% and a post-thermal exfoliation in air. The physicochemical and optical
properties of the materials were analyzed by several techniques. CN/ZnO composites showed a corallike
structure of spherical ZnO wurtzite particles on the g-C3N4 structure. In general, the synergism
and heterojunction interface between both phases allowed the enhancement of the mesoporosity, light
absorption ability, and the aromaticity of the corresponding composites. Moreover, the photocatalytic
activity of the CN/ZnO composites was increased with the addition of g-C3N4 in comparison with
pristine ZnO. The highest activity was found for the composite containing 25 wt% of g-C3N4 (i.e.,
CN25/ZnO), reaching the total degradation of 5-FU and a mineralization of 48% at 180 min, as well
as a good photostability during four reuse cycles. Experiments with different pH solutions and
scavengers allowed for the assessment of the reactive oxygen species (ROS) involved in the 5-FU
degradation pathway, with radicals and non-radical species as the main responsible active species.
Furthermore, a tentative photocatalytic mechanism was proposed for CN/ZnO composites.