One-pot in situ fabrication of Cu-coupled rugby-shaped BiVO4 sosoloid for enhancing photocatalytic activity with SPR effect via ultrasonic hydrothermal strategy

Abstract One-pot wet chemistry strategy via an ultrasonic hydrothermal in situ procedure has been applied to construct a serial of monoclinic Cu-coupled rugby-shaped hierarchical BiVO4 sosoloids with diverse Cu coupling amount. The SEM and TEM images indicate that the coupled copper content had no effect on the crystalline phase of bismuth vanadate, but it had an important effect on its morphology, which changed from seed shape to rugby shape. As demonstrated by XRD and XPS analysis, it was found parts of Cu2+ doped into the BiVO4 monoclinic lattice to make it self-assemble into a rugby-shaped solid solution and another part of Cu loaded on the surface of BiVO4 sosoloids. Under visible light illumination (>420 nm), as-obtained 1.5% Cu-BiVO4 sosoloid had a degradation rate reached 99% for RhB within 50 min, and its photodegradation activity was 5.6 times higher than that of pure BiVO4. and remained above 96% after 5 cycles. The enhanced photocatalytic efficiency of xCu-BiVO4 sosoloids may be mainly attributed to the superior Cu-coupled rugby-shaped BiVO4 sosoloid microstructures with large specific surface area. During the ultrasonic hydrothermal process, the doping Cu2+ can effectively replace V5+ ions to form a virtual energy level accompanied by V4+, which can become a trapping center and capture the excitation electrons on the conduction band. The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of copper can effectively expand the range of visible light response. On the other hand, d orbital electrons of Cu can quickly transfer to the BiVO4 conduction band according to Fermi energy level, so as to promote the interfacial charge transfer process, thus inhibiting the recombination of photo-generated carriers and improving the photocatalytic activity. Based on the synergetic effects of components in degradation of organic contaminants, this study provides a promising photocatalytic material driven by visible light for environmental remediation and protection.