Fabrication of CuFe₂O₄/Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂ photocatalyst with intrinsic p-n junction for highly efficient bisphenol A degradation

The construction and application of novel highly efficient photocatalysts have been the focus in the field of environmental pollutant removal. In this work, a novel CuFe2O4 /Bi12O17Cl2 photocatalysts were synthesized by simple hydrothermal and chemical precipitation method. The fabricated CuFe2O4/Bi12O17Cl2 composite exhibited much higher photocatalytic activity than pristine CuFe2O4 and Bi12O17Cl2 in the removal of bisphenol A (BPA) under visible-light illumination, which ascribed to the intrinsic p-n junction of CuFe2O4 and Bi12O17Cl2. The photocatalytic degradation rate of BPA on CuFe2O4 /Bi12O17Cl2 with an optimized CuFe2O4 content (1.0 wt.%) reached 93.0% within 30 min. The capture experiments of active species confirmed that the hydroxyl radicals ( center dot OH) and superoxide radicals ( center dot O2-) played crucial roles in photocatalytic BPA degradation process. Furthermore, the possible degradation mechanism and pathways of BPA was proposed according to the detected intermediates in photocatalytic reaction process.(c) 2023 The Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V.