Construction of 2D on 2D CuFeO2/Co-LDH heterojunction for boosting photocatalytic selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol

Abstract

Delafossite structure CuFeO 2 has attracted researchers’ interest because of its narrow band gap, high stability, low cost and easy availability. However, due to the low efficiency of internal photoinduced charge separation, there is still a gap between its performance and practical application. Herein, a 2D on 2D CuFeO 2 /Co-LDH heterojunction was prepared by in situ growth method with enhanced charge separation efficiency resulted from the interfacial built-in electric field. Electrochemical and spectroscopic characterization were carried out which illustrated the energy band structure of heterojunction indicating the photoinduced electrons transfer from Co-LDH to CuFeO 2 . By fine-tuning the amount of precursor, we found that CuFeO 2 /Co-LDH-3 heterojunction showed the highest photocurrent of 6.07 μA/cm −2 , which presented optimal performance of photocatalytic selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol with the average conversion and selectivity of 84.33%, and 98.48%, respectively. This work proposes a preparation method of novel 2D on 2D CuFeO 2 /Co-LDH heterojunction, which promotes the development of the heterojunction photocatalysts.’ • 2D on 2D CuFeO 2 /Co-LDH heterojunction was prepared by in situ growth method. • The interfacial built-in electric field improves the charge separation efficiency. • The optimal photocurrent of CuFeO 2 /Co-LDH heterojunction is as high as 6.07 μA/cm −2 . • The optimal BA oxidation performance is obtained with the conversion and selectivity of 84.33%, and 98.48%, respectively.