Recent advances in noble metal free doped graphitic carbon nitride based nanohybrids for photocatalysis of organic contaminants in water :A Review Vasudha Hasijaa, Pankaj Raizadaa*, b, Anita Sudhaika,b, Kirti Sharmaa, Pardeep Singha, b, Sreekantha B. Jonnalgaddac , Vijay Kumar Thakurd aSchool of Chemistry, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Shoolini University, Solan (HP), India--173229 bHimalayan Centre for Excellence in Nanotechnology, Shoolini University. Solan (HP) India-173229 cSchool of Chemistry, Westville Campus, University of KwaZulu-Natal, P Bag X 54001, Durban 4000, South Africa dEnhanced Composites and Structures Center, School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK *Corresponding Author Tel: +91-1792-308000, Fax: +91-1792-30800 Email: *
[email protected] 1 Abstract Extensive contamination of water bodies by textile dyeing industries, organic pollutants and agricultural waste has emerged water pollution as one of the major global environmental crisis. The effect of this gross negligence is posing serious threats to human health therefore today; conserving water resources for the essence of life is of grave concern. Recently, advancements in photocatalytic properties of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) for wastewater treatment have gained tremendous interest in research. However, pristine g-C3N4 suffers from bottlenecks such as low surface area, rapid recombination of photo-generated electron-hole pairs and insufficient light absorption which thereby, reduces the photocatalytic degradation activity. Hitherto, noble metals have been widely utilized as dopants but are cost ineffective, rarely found and are difficult to recover. In this updated and all- inclusive review we have briefly discussed photocatalysis mechanism, primarily focused on non- precious elemental doping via various synthesis techniques of noble metal free doped g-C3N4 photocatalysts.