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Synthesis and characterization of Cu–BiVO4/MCM-41 composite catalysts with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activities

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Abstract

Cu–BiVO4/MCM-41 photocatalysts with tunable Cu content were synthesized via a simple sol–gel method using citric acid as chelating agent. The structure, morphology and optical properties of the composites were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscope and ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity was investigated by the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light. The experimental results showed that all as-prepared catalysts belonged to the monoclinic scheelite phase, and slight portion of Cu2+ incorporation might lead to lattice expansion of BiVO4. Furthermore, loading BiVO4 with MCM-41 molecular sieve could suppress the aggregation of pure catalyst particles effectively. Among all as-prepared samples, 5 %Cu–BiVO4/MCM-41 exhibited the best photocatalytic activity with a 97 % of MB removal in 3 h, moreover, its pseudo-first-order reaction rate constant was 3 times higher than that of pure BiVO4. The enhanced photocatalytic ability might be ascribed to the excellent absorption performance, low recombination of photogenerated charge carriers and enhancement of light adsorption.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21203170) and the National College Students’ Innovative Training Program (No. 201410491024).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Materials Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Yulin Xing, Junxia Wang, Long Chen, Anqi Wang, Fan Li, Chen Wang & Enqi Zhong

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  1. Yulin Xing
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  2. Junxia Wang
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  3. Long Chen
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  4. Anqi Wang
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  5. Fan Li
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  6. Chen Wang
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Correspondence to Junxia Wang.

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Xing, Y., Wang, J., Chen, L. et al. Synthesis and characterization of Cu–BiVO4/MCM-41 composite catalysts with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activities. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 27, 8633–8640 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-016-4883-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-016-4883-9

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