Construction of Ag SPR-promoted Z‐scheme Ag2MoO4/CuBi2O4 composites with enhanced photocatalytic performance

• Published in: Journal of materials science. Materials in electronics 2020-06, Vol.31 (11), p.8151-8164
• Main Authors: Xu, Chengyang, Chen, Yongyang, Xie, Xin, Yan, Ke, Si, Yushan, Zhang, Menghan, Yan, Qishe
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibiotics; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Charge transfer; Chemical synthesis; Chemistry and Materials Science; Heterojunctions; Materials Science; Morphology; Nanoparticles; Optical and Electronic Materials; Oxidation; Photocatalysis; Photodegradation; Rhodamine; Silver; Water pollution; X ray photoelectron spectroscopy
• ISSN: 0957-4522; 1573-482X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10854-020-03271-4

̄ Recently, the photocatalytic oxidation technique for removing antibiotics and industrial dyes in wastewaters has attracted widespread concern. Herein, a Z-scheme Ag 2 MoO 4 /CuBi 2 O 4 heterojunction was synthesized by utilizing a facile in situ precipitation medium and characterized by XRD, FT-IR, XPS, FE-SEM, EDS, TEM, UV–Vis DRS, PL and photoelectrochemical test for explaining the compositions, morphologies and optical natures of synthesized catalysts. Most importantly, the size of the Ag 2 MoO 4 is significantly reduced after loading, due to the pre-adsorption of Ag ions on the CuBi 2 O 4 rod and limiting its growth. The best photocatalytic degradation property was achieved when introducing ~ 50% moral of Ag 2 MoO 4 in the Ag 2 MoO 4 /CuBi 2 O 4 (AC-50), and the degradation efficiency of tetracycline (TC) and rhodamine B (RhB) was 1.84 times and 2.04 times than that of pristine CuBi 2 O 4 . Besides, the reduction of silver nanoparticles (NPs) on the surface of Ag 2 MoO 4 /CuBi 2 O 4 during photodegradation contributes to the formation of the Z-scheme Ag 2 MoO 4 /Ag/CuBi 2 O 4 charge transfer system. Tapping tests and ESR analysis had proved that superoxide radicals (·O 2 − ) and holes (h + ) were the governing active substances during the process of photodegradation. In view of characterization results and capture tests, a plasma Z-scheme Ag 2 MoO 4 /Ag/CuBi 2 O 4 heterojunction mechanism is further described, which provides more redox species and contributes to water pollution repair treatments.