An approach for the treatment of chlorpyrifos and atrazine pesticides using graphitic carbon nitride photocatalyst

This study evaluated an effective approach for the removal of chlorpyrifos (Chp) and atrazine (Atz) pesticides using graphitic carbon nitride photocatalyst (g-CN). Experimental results showed that under solar light, g-CN was able to remove 82.4% of Chp and 73.6% of Atz at an initial concentration of 10 mg L^-1. It also exhibited that the total organic carbon removal efficiency was 95.3% for Chp and 84.7% for Atz after 150 min. Besides, the removal of Chp and Atz is more effective under solar light, with a degradation efficiency of around 10% higher than that of visible light. The characterization results confirmed the high purity of the g-CN photocatalyst and its strong UV light absorption ability, with some extension into the visible region. In addition, recent methods used for the removal of Chp and Atz were discussed and evaluated. It showed that the photocatalytic process is the most widely used method for removing Chp and Atz compared to other techniques. However, the development of suitable photocatalytic materials based on g-CN should be further explored to enhance their efficiency under visible light.