Competent visible light driven photocatalytic removal of gaseous styrene over TiO₂/g-C₃N₄: Characterization, parameters, kinetics, mechanism

Background: Removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including styrene, via photocatalytic oxidation is preferable. The photocatalytic activity of g-C₃N₄ and TiO₂ are limited by its fast recombination rate and wide band gap, respectively. Method: This study examined improvement in photocatalytic degradation of styrene using g-C₃N₄ after doping with various proportions of TiO₂. The best photocatalyst were also tested under various conditions (retention time, relative humidity, styrene concentration, and temperature) prior to study of reaction kinetics. Significant findings: 20 wt% TiO₂/g-C₃N₄ presented the best styrene conversion and supported by characterization result. Formation of narrow band gap reached to 2.68 eV enhanced the performance of doped g-C₃N₄. Langmuir Hinshelwood model 4 presented a well fitted result with the experimental data.