Cuprous oxide/copper oxide interpenetrated into ordered mesoporous cellulose-based carbon aerogels for efficient photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue

Abstract

The casual discharge of dyes from industrial settings has seriously polluted global water systems. Owing to the abundance of biomass resources, preparing photocatalysts for photocatalytic degradation of dyes is significant; however, it still remains challenging. In this work, a cuprous oxide/copper oxide composite was interpenetrated onto carbon nanosheets of cellulose-based flexible carbon aerogels (Cu₂O/CuO@CA_x) via a simple freeze-drying-calcination method. The introduction of the carbon aerogel effectively prevents the aggregation of the cuprous oxide/copper oxide composite. In addition, Cu₂O/CuO@CA_0.2 has a larger specific surface area, stronger charge transfer capacity, and lower recombination rate of photogenerated carriers than copper oxide. Moreover, Cu₂O/CuO@CA_0.2 exhibited high photocatalytic activity in decomposing methylene blue, with a degradation rate reaching up to 99.09% in 60 min. The active oxidation species in the photocatalytic degradation process were systematically investigated by electron spin resonance characterization and poisoning experiments, among which singlet oxygen played a major role. In conclusion, this work provides an effective method for preparing photocatalysts using biomass resources in combination with different metal oxides. It also promotes the development of photocatalytic degradation of dyes.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

carbon aerogel / photocatalysis / dye degradation / biomass / cuprous oxide/copper oxide

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Foundation of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 22008018), NSFC-CONICFT Joint Project (Grant No. 51961125207), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2020M670716), Liaoning Province “Xingliao Talent Plan” Outstanding Talent Project (Grant No. XL YC1901004), Innovation Support Program for High-level Talents of Dalian (Top and Leading Talents) (Grant No. 201913), the Foundation of Guangxi Key Laboratory of Clean Pulp & Papermaking and Pollution Control, College of Light Industry and Food Engineering, Guangxi University (Grant No. 2021KF08), Dalian City Outstanding Talent Project (Grant No. 2019RD13), Start-up Fund for Doctoral Research of Dalian Polytechnic University (Grant No. 2020-07), the Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Biobased Material and Green Papermaking (Grant No. KF201914), Qilu University of Technology, Shandong Academy of Sciences, and the Foundation of Key Laboratory of State Forestry and Grassland Administration for Plant Fiber Functional Materials (Grant No. 2020KFJJ06). We also thank the Shiyanjia laboratory for the XPS analysis.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-023-2305-0 and is accessible for authorized users.

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