Fabrication and characterization of novel, cost-effective graphitic carbon nitride/Fe coated textile nanocomposites for effective degradation of dyes and biohazards

Textile-based photocatalysts are the new materials that can be utilized as an effective sustainable solution for biochemical hazards. Hence, we aimed to develop a sustainable, cost-effective, and facile approach for the fabrication of photocatalytic fabric using graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) and ferric-based multifunctional nanocomposite. Bulk g-C₃N₄ was prepared from urea by heating it at 500 °C for 2 h. The structure of ball-milled g-C₃N₄ was engineered by doping with various amounts of iron (III) chloride hexahydrate solution (0.006 mol/L) and sintered at 90 °C for 24 h to prepare g-C₃N₄-nanosheets/α-Fe₂O₃ composites. These nanocomposites have potential avenues towards rational designing of g-C₃N₄ for improved photocatalytic, antibacterial, and antiviral behavior. The prepared nanocomposite was characterized for its surface morphology, chemical composition, crystal structure, catalytic, antibacterial, and antiviral behavior. The fabrication of ferric doped g-C₃N₄ nanocomposites was characterized by SEM, EDX, FTIR, and XRD analysis. The coated fabric nanocomposite was characterized for methylene blue dye degradation under visible light, antibacterial and antiviral behavior. The developed textile-based photocatalyst has been found with very good recyclability with photocatalytic degradation of dye up to 99.9 % when compared to conventional g-C₃N₄ powder-based photocatalyst.