Eco-Friendly Metal Free Nanomaterials for Sustainable Applications

Paper ID : 1054-ISCHU

Authors

Hanan H Mohamed * Helwan University

Abstract

Clean water and sustainable energy crisis were listed on the top of the Humanity's Problems in our countries. Most of our water resources, including surface and ground water, are severely polluted and can't even be used for industrial purposes. The energy crisis is deepening due to sharply increased demand and prices of fossil fuels, meanwhile, the emitted green-house gas CO2 causes global warming and climate change. Sunlight, the largest source of renewable energy available to humans, can be effectively harvested to produce renewable hydrogen energy from water. Therefore, water and clean energy are inextricably linked with each other. Photocatalysis using semiconductor nanomaterials and solar energy, is considered as the most promising solution to address the challenges concerning clean energy and clean water. However, the photocatalytic efficiency of semiconductor nanomaterials is still limited by low activity and limited solar light harvesting. Despite many publications in this field, photocatalytic water treatment and H2 production remain somewhat separate from real-world applications. Most of published work focuses on designing of new complex materials using complicated techniques, while disregarding overcoming implementation hurdles in that makes the photocatalytic system applicable in real. For a pilot scale application, an ideal active photocatalyst should possess essential characteristics such as availability, low cost, nontoxicity, and high stability. Metal-free semiconductors are thought to be suitable photocatalysts for water purification and H2 production due to their unique properties such as mechanical, thermal, and chemical stability, low toxicity and high photocatalytic activity and low cost as compared to metal based photocatalyst. Considering this, this work focused on eco-friendly synthesis of metal free nanomaterials including graphetic boron carbon nitride (g-C3N4), hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), and boron carbon nitride (BCN) using microwave, as an energy efficient, safe, and green method. The nanomaterials morphology, crystalline structure and optical properties have been investigated using various analytical techniques including XRD, FTIR, UV-vis DRS, SEM and TEM. The activity of the eco-friendly metal free nanomaterials has been evaluated for solar light photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants and photocatalytic hydrogen production.

Keywords

g-C3N4, h-BN, BCN, microwave, water treatment, hydrogen production

Status: Abstract Accepted (Oral Presentation)