p-n junction CuO/BiVO4 heterogeneous nanostructures: synthesis and highly efficient visible-light photocatalytic performance

• Published in: Dalton transactions : an international journal of inorganic chemistry 2014-05, Vol.43 (18), p.6735-6743
• Main Authors: Wang, Wenzhong, Wang, Jun, Wang, Zhizhen, Wei, Xuanzhen, Liu, Li, Ren, Qingshan, Gao, Wenliang, Liang, Yujie, Shi, Honglong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1477-9226; 1477-9234
• DOI: 10.1039/c3dt53613k

A new strategy via coupling a polyol route with an oxidation process has been developed to successfully synthesize p-n junction CuO/BiVO 4 heterogeneous nanostructures. The experimental results reveal that the as-prepared p-n junction CuO/BiVO 4 heterogeneous nanostructures exhibit much higher visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity for the degradation of model dye rhodamine B (RhB) than the pure BiVO 4 nanocrystals. The photocatalytic degradation rate ( C / C 0 ) of the RhB for p-n junction CuO/BiVO 4 heterogeneous nanostructures is about two times higher than that of pure BiVO 4 nanocrystals. The enhanced photocatalytic efficiency is attributed to a large number of p-n junctions in CuO/BiVO 4 heterogeneous nanostructures, which effectively reduces the recombination of electrons and holes by charge transfer from n-type BiVO 4 to the attached p-type CuO nanoparticles. This work not only provides an efficient route to enhance the visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity of BiVO 4 , but also offers a new strategy for fabricating p-n junction heterogeneous nanostructure photocatalysts, which are expected to show considerable potential application in solar-driven wastewater treatment and water splitting. p-n junction CuO/BiVO 4 heterogeneous nanostructures with high visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity were prepared by coupling a polyol process with a hydrothermal technique.