Fabrication of Er3+/Yb3+ Co-Doped Bi5O7I Microsphere With Upconversion Luminescence and Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity for Bisphenol A Degradation

Baowei Cao; Siwen Gong; Siyaka Mj Zubairu; Lingna Liu; Yunhua Xu; Lei Guo; Rui Dang; Gangqiang Zhu

doi:10.3389/fchem.2020.00773

Fabrication of Er³⁺/Yb³⁺ Co-Doped Bi₅O₇I Microsphere With Upconversion Luminescence and Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity for Bisphenol A Degradation

Front Chem. 2020 Sep 3:8:773. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2020.00773. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Baowei Cao¹, Siwen Gong², Siyaka Mj Zubairu³, Lingna Liu¹, Yunhua Xu¹, Lei Guo¹, Rui Dang¹, Gangqiang Zhu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yulin University, Yulin, China.
² School of Physics and Information Technology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China.
³ Department of Chemistry, Federal University Gashua, Gashua, Nigeria.

Abstract

Er³⁺/Yb³⁺ co-doped Bi₅O₇I uniform porous microsphere photocatalysts were synthesized by a two-step chemical method, which possesses excellent photocatalytic performance and upconversion luminescence property. The photocatalytic performance of the photocatalysts was studied by degradation of bisphenol A in aqueous solution under visible light and different monochromatic light irradiation. The photocatalytic performance of Er³⁺/Yb³⁺ co-doped Bi₅O₇I sample is better than that of the pristine Bi₅O₇I and Er³⁺-doped Bi₅O₇I samples. Moreover, Er³⁺/Yb³⁺ co-doped Bi₅O₇I possesses photocatalytic ability with a red light monochromatic LED lamp (3 W, λ = 630 nm) and an infrared monochromatic LED lamp (100 W, λ = 940 nm) irradiation whose wavelength is longer than the absorption-limiting wavelength of pristine Bi₅O₇I sample. This phenomenon further verified that the upconversion property of Er³⁺ and Yb³⁺ causes the improved photocatalytic efficiency of Er³⁺/Yb³⁺ co-doped Bi₅O₇I sample.

Keywords: NO removal; Rhodamine B; doping; heterojunction photocatalytic activity; microsphere; semiconductor; upconversion.