Method of photodegrading an organic pollutant in aqueous media

A method of photodegrading an organic pollutant, the method comprising:

• irradiating a photodegradation mixture comprising the organic pollutant, a nanocomposite photocatalyst, and water with visible light;
• wherein the nanocomposite photocatalyst comprises:
• 1 to 12.5 wt % of a carbon nanomaterial comprising amorphous carbon and graphitic carbon;
• 82.5 to 98.9 wt % of metal oxide nanoparticles disposed on the carbon nanomaterial;
• and
• 0.1 to 5 wt % of noble metal nanoparticles disposed on the metal oxide nanoparticles and/or the carbon nanomaterial, each based on a total weight of nanocomposite photocatalyst,
• wherein the nanocomposite photocatalyst has a mean surface area of 5 to 10.5 m2/g, a mean pore size of 5 to 20 nm, and a mean pore volume of 0.010 to 0.035 cm3/g.