| Summary: | A critical global environmental crisis has emerged due to the use of synthetic organic pollutants in industry, which resulted in the pollution of water. Recently, photocatalysis has attracted much attention for its potential to effectively, economically, and environmentally friendly remove organic pollutants from wastewater. ZnO is known as a potential photocatalyst for the degradation of wastewater in the UV region. However, ZnO has limited light absorption within the UV region and exhibits fast recombination of electron-hole pairs, which reduces its efficiency. To overcome this issue, a g-C3N4/ZnO photocatalyst for organic pollutant degradation in wastewater was developed to extend the light absorption towards the visible region. This research aims to investigate the performance of g-C3N4/ZnO nanocomposites in the degradation of ofloxacin (OFL). The ZnO was prepared using the sol-gel method, while the g-C3N4 was prepared using thermal decomposition. The composite catalyst of g-C3N4/ZnO was prepared by mixing g-C3N4 and ZnO. The prepared catalysts were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), UV-Vis NIR spectrophotometer, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and Brunauer Emmet Teller (BET). As a result of the composite photocatalyst combining ZnO and g-C3N4, the band gap decreased from 3.30 eV to 2.92 eV. The degradation of OFL using g-C3N4/ZnO nanocomposite is 11 times higher than that of pristine ZnO and double than that of pristine g-C3N4. © 2023, Malaysian Society of Analytical Sciences. All rights reserved.
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