Single-atom Ag-loaded carbon nitride photocatalysts for efficient degradation of acetaminophen: The role of Ag-atom and O₂

Carbon nitride has been extensively used as a visible-light photocatalyst, but it has the disadvantages of a low specific surface area, rapid electron-hole recombination, and relatively low light absorbance. In this study, single-atom Ag was successfully anchored on ultrathin carbon nitride (UTCN) via thermal polymerization, the catalyst obtained is called AgUTCN. The Ag hardly changed the carbon nitride's layered and porous physical structure. AgUTCN exhibited efficient visible-light photocatalytic performances in the degradation of various recalcitrant pollutants, eliminations of 85% were achieved by visible-light irradiation for 1 hr. Doping with Ag improved the photocatalytic performance of UTCN by narrowing the forbidden band gap from 2.49 to 2.36 eV and suppressing electron-hole pair recombination. In addition, Ag doping facilitated O2 adsorption on UTCN by decreasing the adsorption energy from -0.2 to -2.22 eV and favored the formation of O2 center dot-. Electron spin resonance and radical-quenching experiments showed that O2 center dot- was the major reactive species in the degradation of Acetaminophen (paracetamol, APAP). (c) 2023 The Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V.