Water-Plasma-Activated G-C3n4 for Enhanced Photodegradation of Bisphenol a Synergized with Persulfate Oxidation

Herein, a facial water-plasma strategy is employed to modify the surface properties of graphite-carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4 ) to enhance its photocatalytic performance for persulfate activation. High energy electron and highly active free radical from water-plasma discharge not only induce nitrogen vacancies, but also generate hydrophilic groups on g-C 3 N 4 surface, which can effectively modulate the energy levels, facilitate the interface interaction of water with catalyst, and meanwhile promote the separation and transfer of photogenerated charge carriers. When used for bisphenol A (BPA) degradation, water-plasma-activated g-C 3 N 4 exhibits 4.5-fold enhancement reaction rate compare to that of pristine g-C 3 N 4 . This work offers deep insights into in-situ defect engineering for g-C 3 N 4 and gives a new method for visible-light induced sulfate radical-based Fenton-like catalyst