Boosted Activity of g-C3N4/UiO-66-NH2 Heterostructures for the Photocatalytic Degradation of Contaminants in Water Rodríguez Solís, Rafael Quintana, María Alejandra Martín Lara, María Ángeles Pérez Muñoz, Antonio Calero De Hoces, Francisca Mónica Muñoz Batista, Mario Jesús Photocatalysis Graphitic carbon nitride UiO-66-NH2 Water treatment Acetaminophen The combination of graphitic carbon nitride and the metal-organic framework UiO-66-NH2 has been developed with the aim to enhance the photocatalytic activity of pure semiconductors. Different proportions of g-C3N4 and UiO-66-NH2 were combined. Complete characterization analysis of the resulting photocatalytic materials was conducted, including N-2 adsorption isotherms, XRD, FTIR, STEM-EDX microscopy, DRS-UV-visible, and photoluminescence. The photocatalytic activity was tested in an aqueous solution for the removal of acetaminophen as the target pollutant. From the obtained results, less than 50% of UiO-66-NH2 incorporated in the g-C3N4 structure enhanced the photocatalytic degradation rate of both bare semiconductors. Concretely, 75% of g-C3N4 in the final g-C3N4 /UiO-66-NH2 heterostructure led to the best results, i.e., complete acetaminophen elimination initially at 5 mg.L-1 in 2 h with a pseudo-first order rate constant of ca. 2 h(-1). The presence of UiO-66-NH2 in the g-C3N4 enhanced the optoelectronic properties, concretely, the separation of the photo-generated charges was improved according to photoluminescence characterization. The better photo-absorption uptake was also confirmed by the determination of the quantum efficiency values of the heterostructure if compared to either pure g-C3N4 or UiO-66-NH2. This photocatalyst with the best activity was further tested at different pH values, with the best degradation rate at a pH close to the pH(pzc) similar to 4.15 of the solid. Sequential recycling tests demonstrated that the heterostructure was stable after five cycles of use, i.e., 15 h. A high contribution of photo-generated holes in the process of the degradation of acetaminophen, followed marginally by superoxide radicals, was suggested by scavenger tests. 2022-12-09T08:06:21Z 2022-12-09T08:06:21Z 2022-10-25 journal article Solís, R.R... [et al.]. Boosted Activity of g-C3N4/UiO-66-NH2 Heterostructures for the Photocatalytic Degradation of Contaminants inWater. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23, 12871. [https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232112871] https://hdl.handle.net/10481/78349 10.3390/ijms232112871 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ open access Atribución 4.0 Internacional MDPI