Construction of highly efficient titanium dioxide adorned with graphitic carbon nitride with improved visible light-harvesting ability for the photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes

Developing cost-effective and exceptionally stable photocatalyst materials for the degradation of dyes is of paramount importance in addressing the global sustainability problems resulting from inappropriate usage of the dyes. In the current investigation, we have highlighted the production of exceptionally efficient titanium dioxide adorned on graphitic carbon nitride (TiO₂/g-CN) to form a heterojunction catalyst utilizing the sono-thermal technique. The physical properties and phase purity of the produced TiO₂/g-CN were determined using a range of characterization methodologies. The constructed TiO₂/g-CN heterojunctions were employed in the photocatalytic decomposition of organic dyes, namely methyl violet (MV) and alizarin yellow R (AYR), under exposure to visible light. The outcomes of the experiment demonstrated the exceptional photocatalytic properties of TiO₂/g-CN with 95.57 % MV and 93.88 % AYR in 42 min under the influence of visible light, which was much higher than pristine TiO₂ and g-CN. The boosted mineralization of dyes using TiO₂/g-CN is related to the large surface area of TiO₂/g-CN (83.46 m²/g) as compared to pristine TiO₂ (76.99 m²/g). Experiments on photocatalytic degradation were also conducted, utilizing multiple reaction conditions that adhered to pseudo-first-order kinetics. Radical quenching analysis supported the existence of reactive species produced in the reaction system responsible for the decomposition of MV and AYR. The outstanding photocatalytic capability of TiO₂/g-CN indicated that the produced composite materials could be effectively utilized for eliminating naturally occurring dyes from water contamination.