Visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes using a TiO2 and waste-based carbon dots nanocomposite

Sendão, Ricardo M.S.; Algarra González, Manuel; Lázaro-Martínez, Juan; Brandão, Ana T.S.C.; Gil Bravo, Antonio; Pereira, Carlos; Esteves da Silva, Joaquim C.G.; Pinto da Silva, Luís

Visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes using a TiO2 and waste-based carbon dots nanocomposite

dc.contributor.author	Sendão, Ricardo M.S.
dc.contributor.author	Algarra González, Manuel
dc.contributor.author	Lázaro-Martínez, Juan
dc.contributor.author	Brandão, Ana T.S.C.
dc.contributor.author	Gil Bravo, Antonio
dc.contributor.author	Pereira, Carlos
dc.contributor.author	Esteves da Silva, Joaquim C.G.
dc.contributor.author	Pinto da Silva, Luís
dc.contributor.department	Ciencias	es_ES
dc.contributor.department	Zientziak	eu
dc.contributor.department	Institute for Advanced Materials and Mathematics - INAMAT2	en
dc.date.accessioned	2025-02-28T11:15:58Z
dc.date.available	2025-02-28T11:15:58Z
dc.date.issued	2025-05-20
dc.date.updated	2025-02-28T11:15:26Z
dc.description.abstract	Herein we report a visible-light-active photocatalytic nanocomposite (NC50:50) prepared from carbon dots (CDs) and TiO2 nanoparticles, which was applied to the photodegradation of organic dyes in water. The CDs incorporated corn stover, a major agricultural waste, and were prepared via hydrothermal treatment. Using a visible-light irradiation source and the dye methylene blue as a representative of the organic dyes class, we observed that a 374% enhancement of the catalytic performance was achieved by adding CDs relative to bare TiO2. This was possible due to increased visible-light absorption and better photonic efficiency. Tests using reactive species scavengers indicated that three active species (superoxide anion, hydroxyl radicals, and electrons) were responsible for the photodegradation process, differing from bare TiO2 in which only the hydroxyl radical has a relevant role. Photocatalytic degradation was also observed toward Rhodamine B, Orange II and Methyl Orange. Finally, we performed a life cycle assessment (LCA) study to assess and analyse the associated environmental impacts of NC50:50 compared with other alternatives, which revealed that NC50:50 is the alternative resulting in the least environmental impacts. In summary, NC50:50 could, under visible-light irradiation, efficiently remove different organic dyes while incorporating organic waste materials and reducing the impacts associated with their use. We expect that this study provides a base for a more environmentally sustainable design of visible-light-active photocatalysts via waste upcycling.	en
dc.description.sponsorship	The Portuguese "Fundaçao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia" (FCT, Lisbon) is acknowledged for funding projects PTDC/QUI-QFI/2870/2020 and 2023.13127.PEX, R&D Units CIQUP (UIDB/00081/2020 and UIDP/00081/2020) and GreenUPorto (UIDB/05748/2020 and UIDP/05748/2020), and the Associated Laboratory IMS (LA/P/0056/2020). Carlos Pereira Portuguese acknowledges the Recovery and Resilience Plan and by the NextGeneration EU European funds in its component 12 - Sustainable Bioeconomy, Investment under project Bioshoes4All (TC-C12-i01). Luís Pinto da Silva acknowledges funding from FCT under the Scientific Employment Stimulus (CEECINST/00069/2021). Ricardo Sendao acknowledges FCT for his Ph.D. grant (2021.06149.BD). Manuel Algarra thanks the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) through the project PID2021-122613OB-I00
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf	en
dc.format.mimetype	application/msword	en
dc.identifier.citation	Sendao, R. M. S., Algarra, A., Lázaro-Martínez, J., Brandao, A. T. S. C., Gil, A., Pereira, C., Esteves da Silva, J. C. G., Pinto da Silva, L. (2025). Visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes using a TiO2 and waste-based carbon dots nanocomposite. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 713, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2025.136475.
dc.identifier.doi	10.1016/j.colsurfa.2025.136475
dc.identifier.issn	0927-7757
dc.identifier.uri	https://academica-e.unavarra.es/handle/2454/53611
dc.language.iso	eng
dc.publisher	Elsevier
dc.relation.ispartof	Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects (2025), vol. 713, 136475
dc.relation.projectID	info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica, Técnica y de Innovación 2021-2023/PID2021-122613OB-I00/ES/
dc.relation.publisherversion	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2025.136475
dc.rights	© 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license.
dc.rights.accessRights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights.uri	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subject	TiO2	en
dc.subject	Carbon dots	en
dc.subject	Photocatalysis	en
dc.subject	Waste upcycling	en
dc.subject	Wastewater treatment	en
dc.title	Visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes using a TiO2 and waste-based carbon dots nanocomposite	en
dc.type	info:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.type.version	info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
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