Regulation of Thin-Layered g-C3N4 for Efficient Persulfate Photocatalysis of Ibuprofen Contaminated Groundwater

The rapid and effective removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) from groundwater is challenging. In this paper, porous cyano group-rich g-C3N4catalysts were prepared by urea (U) and a KOH-assisted thermal polymerization strategy. The thickness, active sites, and pores of g-C3N4were successfully modulated by urea and KOH-assisted thermal polymerization. In addition, the charge separation efficiency of g-C3N4was effectively improved by the above methods. We combine the g-C3N4photocatalyst with peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to achieve the efficient degradation performance of ibuprofen. Meanwhile, we also explored the reaction mechanism of g-C3N4in the photocatalytically coupled persulfate system, which illustrated the active roles of singlet oxygen and holes in the system in degrading pollutants. Our work demonstrates that the photocatalytically coupled persulfate system is an advanced technology necessary for the deep treatment of PPCPs in groundwater and suggests a feasible strategy for catalyst modulation.