The role of Copper (II) ions in Cu-BiOCl for use in the photocatalytic degradation of atrazine

Photocatalysis has increasingly been used as a response to pollution by organic compounds. One pressing issue faced by photocatalytic systems is lack of activity with persistent pollutants. A strategy that has been employed by researchers in the field is to add transition metal dopants to known photocatalysts to increase their catalytic activity. Here, based on recent reports, we synthesize Cu-BiOCl to target degradation of atrazine, which represents the model organic pollutant. The prepared photocatalyst is characterized via XRD, SEM-EDAX, UV-vis DRS, and photoluminescence measurements. Photocatalytic activity studies have been conducted to assess the potential of Cu-BiOCl to degrade atrazine in the absence of sacrificial donors such as hydrogen peroxide. The results from this investigation indicate successful synthesis of copper-modified photocatalysts which exhibit a decrease in atrazine removal when compared to pure BiOCl. Active species trapping experiments were used to propose a mechanism that suggests the copper-modified systems produce electron vacancies more efficiently than pure BiOCl systems yet are most effective in the presence of sacrificial agents.