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A promising strategy to fabricate the Cu/BiVO4 photocatalysts and their enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic activities

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Abstract

Cu/BiVO4 photocatalysts with high photoresponse are successfully synthesized by a one-step microwave hydrothermal method. The phase structure, morphology and optical absorption properties of the as-obtained photocatalysts are well characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, EDS, DRS, BET and electrochemical analyses, as well as some associated data fitting methods. The results show that the doping of Cu2+ doesn’t change the phase structure of BiVO4 (C2/c:c3) but leaves certain effects on their lattice parameters. Furthermore, the DRS spectra reveal a significant red shift from 521 to 550 nm and a decrease band gap values from 2.22 to 2.09 eV, suggesting their improved optical absorption in the long wavelength region. The photocatalytic results show that a greatly promoted carrier separation rate due to the electron transition of Cu2+ with the doping ratio of 2 % can help to improve the degradation rate reaching the highest 87 % within 210 min under the visible light. Moreover, the recycling experiment for four entire circles demonstrates that the as-synthesized photocatalyst has a high structural stability in using.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51172135).

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  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an, 710021, Shaanxi, China

    Ping Chen

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Chen, P. A promising strategy to fabricate the Cu/BiVO4 photocatalysts and their enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic activities. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 27, 2394–2403 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-015-4037-5

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