A regenerable Cu2O/BiOBr S-scheme heterojunction photocatalysts for efficient photocatalytic degradation of mixed organic pollutants

Abstract

Semiconductor photocatalysis, a powerful technology for water treatment, has been restricted by high recombination rate of photogenerated carriers. Here, we construct a Fenton-like catalyst Cu2O/BiOBr with S-scheme heterojunction. The Cu2O/BiOBr exhibits efficient photocatalytic degradation under saline solution, even actual water quality for various organic contaminant (MB, RhB, CR, MV, TC, and the mixed contaminants). Remarkably, the glucose reduction recovers the photocatalytic degradation of Cu2O/BiOBr from 60.10 % (after 4 cycles) to 89.98 %. This significant restoration can be ascribed to that the Fenton-like process, Cu(Ⅰ)-e-→Cu(Ⅱ), plays an important role in photocatalytic degradation. The Cu(Ⅰ) can be regenerated by glucose, which can reduce Cu(Ⅱ) produced in Fenton-like process. This is considered as a widely used regeneration method for Fenton catalyst. Benefiting from the S-scheme heterojunction and Fenton-like process, the efficient and recyclable Cu2O/BiOBr photocatalyst shows an excellent potential for practical application. It provides a design guide for preparing a green and energy-saving catalyst.