Enhanced BiVO4 photocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic oxidative desulfurization performance via electrodeposited copper oxide nanoparticles

Enhanced BiVO₄ photocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic oxidative desulfurization performance via electrodeposited copper oxide nanoparticles

Zohreh Tahmasebi, Mohamad Mohsen Momeni, Alireza Najafi Chermahini

Abstract

CuO@BiVO4 photocatalysts have been synthesized through electrochemical deposition on an FTO glass as the photoanode in this work. Different techniques have been used to characterize the crystal structure, morphology, elemental composition and photoelectrochemical properties of synthesized photoanodes. The photocurrent responses of CuO@BiVO4 were higher compared with those of bare BiVO4, which indicates the band alignment between the two semiconductors giving rise to the prevention of fast recombination of electron–hole pairs. CuO@BiVO4 samples show a photocurrent of 68 µA/cm2 at 1.0 V Ag/AgCl electrode, which is eightfold the corresponding value for bare BiVO4. Photooxidation of dibenzothiophene (DBT) was carried out to evaluate the photocatalytic oxidation activity of the samples prepared. The highest desulfurization rate of DBT was shown by sample CuO@BiVO4 (15 cycles …