Abstract
The developments of oxide semiconductors as photocatalysts are considered alternatives for the mineralization of organic toxins. The release of herbicides in both soil and water is considered a huge problem for health and needs more concern. Atrazine (AtZ) is a widely used herbicide in agronomic and related fields. This study publicizes a solution-based route for the synthesis of WO3 nanostructures followed by decoration with minor content (1.0‒5.0 wt.%) of spinel CuAl2O4. The prepared nanostructures exhibited high surface areas (94‒110 m2g‒1) and enhanced visible-light absorbance owing to the lessened bandgap energy to 2.64 eV without any significant change of the main hexagonal WO3 crystalline form. The synthesized photocatalysts were applied for 50 ppm AtZ mineralization in water. The optimized dose of 4.0% CuAl2O4-decorated WO3 at 1.2 g L–1 exposed the total degradation of AtZ after 40 min of visible light. These newly fabricated ceramic-based heterojunctions revealed regenerated ability for five consecutive cycles keeping 96% of its initial efficiency. The edifice of such type-II junction between the p-type CuAl2O4 and the n-type WO3 is mainly subsidized the magnificent photocatalytic performance owing to the effectual carrier separation and photomineralization route.
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The Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR) at King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia has funded this project under grant no(G:007-130-1443).
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Sobahi, T. Visible-light-driven mineralization of atrazine over one-pot-synthesized CuAl2O4-coupled WO3 heterojunction photocatalysts. Appl Nanosci 12, 4059–4068 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-022-02639-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-022-02639-8