Ionic liquid-assisted preparation of g-C3N4/RGO co-intercalated CuBi2O4 hierarchical nanoflower and enhancement of the photocatalytic activity

A new p-n type CBO/CN/RGO ternary heterojunction photocatalyst combining three-dimensional multi-stage rosette CuBi2O4 and two-dimensional g-C3N4 and RGO flakes was successfully prepared by ionic liquid-assisted hydrothermal method. The successful construction of p-n heterojunctions of CBO/CN/RGO composites was verified by means of UV-vis diffuse reflection, Mott Schottky curves and TEM, and construction the heterojunctions significantly improved that of the transfer and transport speed of photogenerated carriers. The photocatalytic degradation of MO by CBO/CN/RGO-6% reached 91.83% within 150 min, while the kinetic constants of degradation k were 9.7 and 7.9 times greater than those of single-phase CBO and g-C3N4, respectively. Three cycles of experiments demonstrated that the degradation efficiency of CBO/CN/RGO-6% composites remained above 88% for RhB, which fully proved that the CBO/CN/RGO-6% composites possessed good chemical stability. Based on its excellent photocatalytic performance and good stability, CBO/CN/RGO-6% is expected to be the preferred material for environmental wastewater treatment.

Automated summary

A new p-n type CBO/CN/RGO ternary heterojunction photocatalyst was successfully prepared by ionic liquid-assisted hydrothermal method, which combined three-dimensional multi-stage rosette CuBi2O4 and two-dimensional g-C3N4 and RGO flakes. The construction of p-n heterojunctions significantly improved the transfer and transport speed of photogenerated carriers. The photocatalytic degradation of MO by CBO/CN/RGO-6% reached 91.83% within 150 min, with degradation kinetics constants higher than single-phase CBO and g-C3N4. The CBO/CN/RGO-6% composites showed good chemical stability and are expected to be a preferred material for environmental wastewater treatment.