Constructing CuBi₂O₄/Ag₃PO₄ Photocatalyst with Improved Photocatalytic Performance for the Degradation of Tetracycline under Visible‐Light Irradiation

Abstract

Constructing highly efficient heterojunction photocatalyst is vital but difficult for solving the environmental crises. The CuBi 2 O 4 /Ag 3 PO 4 photocatalyst has been synthesized by hydrothermal and solution precipitating method. The fabricated CuBi 2 O 4 /Ag 3 PO 4 composite exhibits improved property for the degradation of tetracycline (TC) and nearly 80 % of TC (50 mg/ L) is degraded within 30 min, especially its rate constant (k = 0.04366 min À 1 ) is about 13.48 and 1.63 times higher than those of pure CuBi 2 O 4 (0.003240 min À 1 ) and Ag 3 PO 4 (0.02676 min À 1 ). The excellent photocatalytic performance was attributed to the heterojunction interfaces and the effective separation of the photo-generated carriers driven by the reasonable energy band alignment in the heterostructure. The CuBi 2 O 4 / Ag 3 PO 4 composite displays good stability, and the present of different inorganic ions has rather small effect on the degradation of TC. A possible photocatalytic mechanism of CuBi 2 O 4 /Ag 3 PO 4 composite is proposed based on the active species trapping experiment. It proves that the CuBi 2 O 4 / Ag 3 PO 4 composite has potential application in environmental remediation.