In situ preparation of visible-light-driven carbon quantum dots/NaBiO3 hybrid materials for the photoreduction of Cr(VI)
Lishan Niu , Yixiao Wu , Chunlong Chen , Shu He , Xuesong Zhao , Shaobin Huang , Gongchang Zeng , Yingying You , Ying Cao
DOI:10.1016/j.jes.2020.06.016
Received April 08, 2020,Revised , Accepted June 14, 2020, Available online July 02, 2020
Volume 33,2021,Pages 100-109
In this study, different carbon quantum dots (CQDs)/NaBiO3 hybrid materials were synthesized as photocatalysts to effectively utilize visible light for the photocatalytic degradation of contaminants effectively. These hybrid materials exhibit an enhanced photocatalytic reduction of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) in the aqueous medium. Zero-dimensional nanoparticles of CQDs were embedded within the two-dimensional NaBiO3 nanosheets by the hydrothermal process. Compared with that of the pure NaBiO3 nanosheets, the photocatalytic performance of the hybrid catalysts was significantly high and 6 wt.% CQDs/NaBiO3 catalyst exhibited better photocatalytic performance. We performed the first-principles density functional theory calculations to study the interfacial properties of pure NaBiO3 nanosheets and hybrid photocatalysts, and confirmed the CQDs played an important role in the CQDs/NaBiO3 composites. The experimental results indicated that the enhanced reduction of Cr(VI) was probably due to the high loading of CQDs (electron acceptor) on NaBiO3, which made NaBiO3 nanomaterials to respond in visible light and significantly improved their electron-hole separation efficiency.
