Removing lignin model pollutants with BiFeO3–g-C3N4 compound as an efficient visible-light-heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst

BiFeO_3–g-C_3N_4 nanoscaled composite was prepared with a hydrothermal method and evaluated as a highly efficient photo-Fenton like catalyst under visible light irradiation. The BiFeO_3–g-C_3N_4 composite exhibited much stronger adsorption ability to lignin model pollutant(guaiacol) than that of BiFeO_3, which may be due to the higher specific surface area(BiFeO_3–g-C_3N_4: 35.59 m~2/g BiFeO_3: 7.42 m~2/g) and the adsorption form of π–π stack between g-C_3N_4 and guaiacol. The composite exhibited excellent visible light-Fenton like catalysis activity, being influenced by the solution pH value and the proportions of BiFeO_3 and g-C_3N_4 nanosheets. Under optimal conditions with visible light irradiation, the BiFeO_3–g-C_3N_4 composite yielded fast degradation of guaiacol with an apparent rate constant of 0.0452 min~(-1), which were 5.21 and 6.80 folds of that achieved by using BiFeO_3 and the mixture of BiFeO_3 and g-C_3N_4 nanosheets, respectively. The significantly enhanced visible light-Fenton like catalytic properties of the BiFeO_3–g-C_3N_4 composite in comparison with that of BiFeO_3 was attributed to a large surface area, much increased adsorption capacity and the semiconductor coupling effect between BiFeO_3 and g-C_3N_4 in the composite.