High concentration of methyl orange elimination by targeted construction of an α-Bi2O3/Ph-CC-Cu Z-scheme

We anchored Ph-C C-Cu, a type of metal organic molecule, onto the surface of alpha-Bi2O3 nanoparticles (NPs) to efficiently eliminate a high concentration of methyl orange (MO) in waste water. With the optimal alpha-Bi2O3/Ph-C C-Cu hybrid, the degradable concentration of MO was 3 x 10(-4) M, which is 5 times higher than that in most of the previously reported photocatalytic researches (6 x 10(-5) M). The photocatalytic activity of the alpha-Bi2O3/Ph-C C-Cu hybrid in this work even exceeds that of commercial P25 for MO degradation under full spectrum light. Furthermore, a targeted Z-scheme construction was proposed and demonstrated using photocatalytically generated reactive oxygen species (ROS), photocurrent densities, fluorescence spectra and photocatalytic reduction of AgNO3 experiment. This work not only reported an efficient hybrid for MO elimination with high concentration in waste water, but also provided new explanations for the Z-scheme mechanism.

Automated summary

In this study, a metal organic molecule was anchored onto the surface of α-Bi2O3 nanoparticles, resulting in an efficient hybrid for eliminating high concentrations of methyl orange in waste water. The hybrid showed higher photocatalytic activity than commercial P25 and could degrade methyl orange at a concentration 5 times higher than previous research. A targeted Z-scheme construction was proposed and demonstrated, providing new explanations for the mechanism.