Achieving improved full-spectrum responsive 0D/3D CuWO4/BiOBr:Yb3+,Er3+ photocatalyst with synergetic effects of up-conversion, photothermal effect and direct Z-scheme heterojunction

Xintong Yao; Xue Jiang; Dafeng Zhang; Shuya Lu; Mengyao Wang; Sihan Pan; Xipeng Pu; Junchang Liu; Peiqing Cai

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.04.072

Achieving improved full-spectrum responsive 0D/3D CuWO₄/BiOBr:Yb³⁺,Er³⁺ photocatalyst with synergetic effects of up-conversion, photothermal effect and direct Z-scheme heterojunction

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 Aug 15:644:95-106. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.04.072. Epub 2023 Apr 20.

Authors

Xintong Yao¹, Xue Jiang¹, Dafeng Zhang², Shuya Lu¹, Mengyao Wang¹, Sihan Pan¹, Xipeng Pu³, Junchang Liu¹, Peiqing Cai⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Energy Storage and Novel Cell Technology, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng 252000, PR China.
² School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Energy Storage and Novel Cell Technology, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng 252000, PR China. Electronic address: dafengzh@hotmail.com.
³ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Energy Storage and Novel Cell Technology, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng 252000, PR China. Electronic address: xipengpu@hotmail.com.
⁴ College of Optical and Electronic Technology, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou 310018, PR China.

PMID: 37094476
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.04.072

Abstract

The key to obtain effective photocatalysts is to increase the efficiency of light energy conversion, and thus the design and implementation of full-spectrum photocatalysts is a potential approach to solve this problem especially by extending the absorption range to near-infrared (NIR) light. Herein, the improved full-spectrum responsive CuWO₄/BiOBr:Yb³⁺,Er³⁺ (CW/BYE) direct Z-scheme heterojunction was prepared. The CW/BYE with CW mass ratio of 5% had the best degradation performance, and the removal rate of tetracycline reached 93.9% in 60 min and 69.4% in 12 h under visible (Vis) and NIR light, respectively, which were 5.2 and 3.3 times of BYE. According to the outcome of experimental, the reasonable mechanism of improved photoactivity was put forward on the basis of (i) the up-conversion (UC) effect of Er³⁺ ion to convert NIR photon to ultraviolet or visible light, which can be used by CW and BYE, (ii) the photothermal effect of CW to absorb the NIR light, increasing the local temperature of photocatalyst particle to accelerate the photoreaction, and (iii) the formed direct Z-scheme heterojunction between BYE and CW to boost the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Additionally, the excellent photostability of the photocatalyst was verified by cycle degradation experiments. This work opens up a promising technique for designing and synthesizing full-spectrum photocatalysts by utilizing synergetic effects of UC, photothermal effect and direct Z-scheme heterojunction.

Keywords: CuWO(4)/BiOBr:Yb(3+),Er(3+); Direct Z-scheme; Full-spectrum; Photocatalyst; Photothermal effect; Up-conversion.