Construction of Cu7 S4 @CuCo2 O4 Yolk-Shell Microspheres Composite and Elucidation of Its Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity, Mechanism, and Pathway for Carbamazepine Degradation

Zuming He; Hanpei Yang; Ngie Hing Wong; Lusi Ernawati; Jaka Sunarso; Zhengyi Huang; Yongmei Xia; Yong Wang; Jiangbin Su; Xiaofei Fu; Mi Wu

doi:10.1002/smll.202207370

Construction of Cu₇ S₄ @CuCo₂ O₄ Yolk-Shell Microspheres Composite and Elucidation of Its Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity, Mechanism, and Pathway for Carbamazepine Degradation

Small. 2023 May;19(18):e2207370. doi: 10.1002/smll.202207370. Epub 2023 Feb 10.

Authors

Zuming He^{1

2

3}, Hanpei Yang¹, Ngie Hing Wong⁴, Lusi Ernawati⁵, Jaka Sunarso⁴, Zhengyi Huang², Yongmei Xia⁶, Yong Wang⁷, Jiangbin Su³, Xiaofei Fu⁶, Mi Wu¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resource Development on Shallow Lakes, Ministry of Education, College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, P. R. China.
² Huaide School, Changzhou University, Jingjiang, 214500, P. R. China.
³ School of Microelectronics and Control Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou, 213164, P. R. China.
⁴ Research Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Science, Swinburne University of Technology, Jalan Simpang Tiga, Kuching, Sarawak, 93350, Malaysia.
⁵ Department of Chemical Engineering, Institut Teknologi Kalimantan, Balikpapan, 76127, Indonesia.
⁶ School of Materials and Engineering, Jiangsu University of Technology, Changzhou, 213001, P. R. China.
⁷ School of Pharmaceutical and Materials Engineering, Taizhou University, Jiaojiang, 318000, P. R. China.

PMID: 36765447
DOI: 10.1002/smll.202207370

Abstract

Water pollution caused by the massive use of medicines has caused significant environmental problems. This work first reports the synthesis and characterization of the Cu₇ S₄ /CuCo₂ O₄ (CS/CCO) yolk-shell microspheres via hydrothermal and annealing methods, and then investigates their photocatalytic performance in removing organic water pollutants. The 10-CS/CCO composite with yolk-shell microspheres exhibits the highest photodegradation rate of carbamazepine (CBZ), reaching 96.3% within 2 h. The 10-CS/CCO also demonstrates more than two times higher photodegradation rates than the pure (Cu₇ S₄ ) CS and (CuCo₂ O₄ ) CCO. This outstanding photocatalytic performance can be attributed to the unique yolk-shell structure and the Z-scheme charge transfer pathway, reducing multiple reflections of the acting light. These factors enhance the light absorption efficiency and efficiently transfer photoexcited charge carriers. In-depth, photocatalytic degradation pathways of CBZ are systematically evaluated via the identification of degradation intermediates with Fukui index calculation. The insights gained from this work can serve as a guideline for developing low-cost and efficient Z-scheme photocatalyst composites with the yolk-shell structure.

Keywords: CuCo 2O 4; Z-scheme; carbamazepine; photocatalytic; yolk-shell structures.

Abstract

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