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

• Published in: Applied surface science Vol. 631; p. 157531
• Main Authors: Uddin, Ahmed, Rauf, Abdur, Luo, Haopeng, Basharat, Majid, Ikram, Muhammad, Zeb, Shah, Imran, Muhammad, Ul Hassan, Qadeer, Gao, Yongxiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 15.09.2023
• Subjects: 3D/2D; Bisphenol A; In2O3/Cu-CN composite; Photocatalytic activity; Photoinduced electrons; Photocatalytic activity; Bisphenol A; Photoinduced electrons; In2O3/Cu-CN composite; 3D/2D
• ISSN: 0169-4332
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2023.157531

[Display omitted] •A binary Type-I In2O3/Cu-CN heterojunction system was successfully fabricated by hydrothermal method.•After 180 min visible light irradiation, 91% of the BPA molecules were completely degraded.•The degradation ratio for Bisphenol A (BPA) is found 3–5 fold larger than that of solo catalysts of 2D Cu-CN and 3D In2O3.•3D/2D based In2O3-Cu-CN, promotes the faster photo-induced charge transfer at heterojunction interface. 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 significant 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. Furthermore, 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 evidenced that the superoxide (•O2−) 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, heterojunction photocatalysts, which has promising application prospects in wastewater treatment and pollution controlling.