One-step construction of heterostructured metal-organics@Bi2O3 with improved photoinduced charge transfer and enhanced activity in photocatalytic degradation of sulfamethoxazole under solar light irradiation

Yueping Bao, Teik Thye Lim, Ronn Goei, Ziyi Zhong, Rong Wang, Xiao Hu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

A facile one-step assembly method was developed for the preparation of metal-organics @Bi2O3 composites for photocatalysis. Two kinds of metal-organics (Ti-bdc and Cu-btc)@Bi2O3 composites were synthesized via the coordination of btc3−/bdc2− and metal ions (Ti4+/Cu2+) as well as –OH on the surface of Bi2O3. Compared with pure Bi2O3, Ti-bdc@Bi2O3 shows a 1.7 times higher photocatalytic activity in the degradation of sulfamethoxazole (SMX) under a simulated solar irradiation with a cumulative removal of 62% within 60 min. The high photocatalytic activity could be attributed to the high charge separation, enhanced electron transfer as well as the low recombination rate of photo-generated electrons and holes due to the construction of hetero-structures. The stability test showed that Ti-bdc@Bi2O3 is more stable in water than Cu-btc@Bi2O3. Furthermore, through the radical-trapping experiments and main intermediates detection, it is demonstrated that the photo-generated holes as well as the [rad]OH and [rad]O2 formed dominate the photocatalytic decomposition of SMX. These findings demonstrate the potential usage of a facile method to synthesize metal-organics and metal oxides composites, some of which possess high water stability and thus could be employed for water treatment.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)396-403
Number of pages8
JournalChemosphere
Volume205
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2018
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Charge transfer
  • Composite
  • Metal-organics
  • Photocatalytic degradation
  • Sulfamethoxazole

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