Regulatable construction of 3D/2D cubic In2O3/copper doped g-C3N4 heterojunction with boost photocatalytic degradation of BPA

In this work, a 3D/2D cubic In2O3/Copper doped graphitic carbon nitride (Cu-CN), heterojunction photocatalysts were synthesized using hydrothermal process and further applied to study its photocatalytic properties for bisphenol-A (BPA) degradation. The cubic three-dimensional In2O3 disperse on the surface of Cu-CN two-dimensional sheet was studied by TEM and XRD. The resulting composites of In2O3/Cu-CN, show the highest photocatalytic activity for 15%-In2O3/Cu-CN at optimized ratio under the visible-light irradiation. As compared to both pure Cu-CN and/or In2O3, the optimized composites of In2O3/Cu-CN show 5-7 fold improvement for the degradation of BPA. Specifically, In2O3/Cu-CN with a In2O3/Cu ratio of 15% displays a kinetic value of 0.01/ min, whereas pure Cu-CN and In2O3 have a kinetic value of 0.002/min and 0.0015/min, respectively. The sig-nificant enhancement of the photocatalytic behaviour of the heterojunction is attributed to the regulated In2O3/ Cu-CN, that not only promotes the separation of photo-induced electrons and electron-hole efficiently, but also the transformation of heterojunction interface via the band position in between the Cu-CN and In2O3. Further-more, the improvement mechanism of achievable activity is discussed in details. Moreover, 15%-In2O3/Cu-CN also exhibits a good stability and photocatalytic activity as verified through four recycling responses. It is evi-denced that the superoxide (center dot O-2) and holes (h(+)) play a crucial role as reactive species for the photocatalytic degradation of BPA. This study provides a new opportunity for the preparation of metal oxide/Cu-CN, hetero-junction photocatalysts, which has promising application prospects in wastewater treatment and pollution controlling.

Automated summary

3D/2D cubic In2O3/Copper doped graphitic carbon nitride (Cu-CN) heterojunction photocatalysts were synthesized and their photocatalytic properties for bisphenol-A (BPA) degradation were studied. The composites of In2O3/Cu-CN showed the highest photocatalytic activity at a 15% In2O3/Cu ratio under visible-light irradiation. The optimized composites displayed a 5-7 fold improvement compared to pure Cu-CN and/or In2O3. The improved photocatalytic behavior was attributed to the regulated In2O3/Cu-CN and the efficient separation of photo-induced electrons, as well as the transformation of the heterojunction interface.