Authors: Debora Brisevac, Lidija Curkovic, Davor Ljubas
Company/Institution: University of Zagreb, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture (FAMENA)
Country: Croatia
e-mail: debora.brisevac@fsb.unizg.hr
web: www.fsb.unizg.hr
Graphite structure carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is a very attractive new material with numerous applications. The material is non-toxic, cost-effective, with very good chemical and physical properties. It can be synthesized from different precursors (such as urea and melamine) and by different methods (eg thermal polymerization and hydrothermal method). Since the goal is to reduce the harmful impact on the environment during the production of materials, a new innovative microwave synthesis method was used. This significantly reduced the synthesis time (from a few hours in an electric oven to a few minutes in a microwave oven) and the consumption of electricity. The material prepared in this way, in addition to being more environmentally friendly, has significantly better properties than the material obtained in an electric furnace. The effectiveness of g-C3N4 synthesized by the microwave method was tested on the example of an advanced oxidation process – photocatalytic decomposition of the anesthetic procaine, which is on the “watch list” of harmful pharmaceuticals. 90% removal of the mentioned anesthetic was achieved in 30 minutes using the obtained g-C3N4 under simulated solar radiation without additional chemicals.