Persulfate enhanced photocatalytic degradation of bisphenol A by g-C3N4 nanosheets under visible light irradiation

- The g-C3N4 nanosheets presents better photocatalytic activity than bulk g-C3N4.
- Persulfate improved BPA degradation in g-C3N4 visible light photocatalysis system.
- Superoxide radicals are the dominant oxidizing species for bisphenol A degradation.

The enhancement of g-C3N4 photocatalytic degradation of bisphenol A (BPA) via persulfate (PS) addition was investigated under visible light irradiation. The effects of various parameters on the BPA degradation were investigated, such as catalysts dosage, PS concentrations, initial pH value and BPA concentration. The results showed that g-C3N4 nanosheets exhibited superior photocatalytic activity toward BPA degradation as compared with bulk g-C3N4. The addition of PS can further improve the g-C3N4 photocatalytic performance for BPA degradation. With 5 mM PS, the degradation rate of BPA was increased from 72.5% to 100% at 90 min, and the corresponding first-order kinetic constants were increased from 0.0028 to 0.0140 min−1. The removal efficiency of BPA increased with the decrease of solution pH value. The active radicals in the reaction system were tested by electron spin resonance (ESR) and radicals quenching experiments. Instead of persulfate radicals' oxidation, it was proposed that the main active radicals for BPA degradation were superoxide radicals and the photogenerated holes.

232