2019 | United Kingdom | Diana Virgovicova

Discovery of a new photocatalyst to solve water pollution

Water issue adressed: Too dirty

I used quantum chemistry software and finally found graphitic carbon nitride: g-C3N4 (form B). After cooperation with scientists from Greece who helped me synthetize g-C3N4 (form B) I continued my experimental work in the lab.
The efficiency of g-C3N4 (form B) was investigated by using UV/Vis spectrometry. The results showed that graphitic nitride has amazing properties and can clean polluted rivers in the world.
This can be obtained by using a very simple method: We can just sprinkle g-C3N4 (form B) into rivers and wait for the results which means clean water.

This is how I came up with the idea for this project:

When I was in India I saw black rivers. There I realized that pollution is enormous. I started to think about a solution for this problem and I found heterogenic photocatalysis.

DOCUMENTATION

Discovery of a new photocatalyst to solve water pollution My project deals with heterogenic phocatalysis. Photocatalysis is a process, where specific substances called photocatalysts absorb radiation and the results produce radicals . These radicals are ions which can eliminate unwanted organic and anorganic pollutants (unwanted substances which pollute water). The best property of photocatalysts is that they are absolutely unobjectionable, because the product between radicals and pollutants is clean water. Nowadays, there are photocatalysts which absorb wavelengths of UV radiation and produce radicals which effectively eliminate pollutants. The most famous is titanium dioxide (TiO2). Although TiO2 is the most famous photocatalyst, it can produce radicals only when it absorbs wavelengths of UV radiation. It is not useful if we want clean large areas of rivers. We need UV lamps to produce UV radiation and it would be very expensive. Although there is an amount of UV radiation in light emitted from the Sun it is still not enough for the photocatalytic process to take place. Because of it, I decided to find the photocatalyst which would be able to produce radicals after absorbing wavelengths of visible light. I used quantum chemistry software and finally found graphitic carbon nitride: g-C3N4 (form B). After cooperation with scientists from Greece who helped me synthetize g-C3N4 (form B) I continued my experimental work in the lab. The efficiency of g-C3N4 (form B) was investigated by using UV/Vis spectrometry. The results showed that graphitic nitride has amazing properties and can clean polluted rivers in the world. This can be obtained by using a very simple method: We can just sprinkle g-C3N4 (form B) into rivers and wait for the results which means clean water.

CONTACT WATERTANK

Ania Andersch

Programme manager ania.andersch@siwi.org +46 8 121 360 59