Carbon fiber cloth@BiOBr/CuO as immobilized membrane-shaped photocatalysts with enhanced photocatalytic H2 production activity

Background: Hydrogen plays an important role in developing an environment-friendly, low-emission, and sustainable energy system. Carbon fiber (CF) cloth is a useful porous and conductive substrate. Loading appropriate semiconductor nanomaterials on CF cloth is an effective method to fabricate flexible and high-performance photocatalysts. Methods: Carbon fiber (CF) cloth@BiOBr/CuO were synthesized as immobilized membrane-shaped photocatalysts by the growth of BiOBr using successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR), followed by calcination and forming the CuO cocatalyst. Significant findings: The loading of optimized amounts of BiOBr (three immersion cycles in the SILAR process) and the CuO shell leads to enhanced H2 production activity. The CF cloth@BiOBr/CuO photocatalyst (S3BOB3C) is a flexible, membrane-shaped, and immobilized photocatalyst with high activity (1863 & mu;mol h-1 g- 1), which is 4.4 times active when compared to the CF cloth@BiOBr photocatalyst (S1BOB) (423 & mu;mol h-1 g- 1). The p-n heterojunctions in BiOBr/CuO composites with type-II band alignment can improve photocatalytic H2 production performance.

Automated summary

Loading appropriate semiconductor nanomaterials on carbon fiber cloth is an effective method to fabricate flexible and high-performance photocatalysts. The CF cloth@BiOBr/CuO photocatalyst shows significantly enhanced H2 production activity compared to the CF cloth@BiOBr photocatalyst, due to the presence of p-n heterojunctions and optimized amounts of BiOBr and CuO.