Sonochemical Synthesis of Copper-doped BiVO 4 /g-C 3 N 4 Nanocomposite Materials for Photocatalytic Degradation of Bisphenol A under Simulated Sunlight Irradiation

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2020-03, Vol.10 (3)
• Main Authors: Lee, Gang-Juan, Lee, Xin-Yu, Lyu, Cong, Liu, Na, Andandan, Sambandam, Wu, Jerry J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano10030498

Copper-doped bismuth vanadate/graphitic carbon nitride (BiVO /g-C N ) nanocomposite materials were successfully fabricated using a sonochemical approach. Cu-doped BiVO /g-C N nanocomposite photocatalysts could improve electron/hole (e /h ) pair separation, stability, and light-harvesting efficiency compared to pristine BiVO or g-C N , resulting in the enhancement of photocatalytic activity. The optimal parameters, such as pH value at 10, photocatalyst dosage of 0.4 g L , and 10 mol% Cu-doped BiVO /g-C N photocatalyst, were determined to degrade initial concentration of 20 ppm Bisphenol A, which could be completely removed after 90 min. Furthermore, the excessive doping of copper (> 10 mol%) could not synthesize the pure monoclinic scheelite phase, which substantially resulted in the reduction of the photocatalytic activity.