Visible-light-induced NiCo₂O₄@Co₃O₄ core/shell heterojunction photocatalysts for efficient removal of organic dyes

Abstract

Semiconductor photocatalysis has been considered as a potential technology for the removal of organic dyes from wastewater. The development of photocatalysts with high stability and strong catalytic activity is the most important in application. Visible-light-induced NiCo₂O₄@Co₃O₄ core/shell heterojunctions were synthesized via a sol-gel method in this paper. Compared to bare NiCo₂O₄ and Co₃O₄, NiCo₂O₄@Co₃O₄ showed a remarkably enhanced removal rate towards congo red (CR) degradation with 98.4% of the removal rate to CR at 120 min under irradiation. The excellent performance of NiCo₂O₄@Co₃O₄ benefits from the effective separation of photogenerated electron-holes by forming a heterojunction, and the rapid transfer efficiency of photo-generated charge carriers results from the core/shell architectures. A mechanism that NiCo₂O₄@Co₃O₄ degrades CR to harmless inorganic substances by h⁺, •O₂⁻ and •OH during the photocatalytic process was proposed.

Keywords

visible-light-inducment / NiCo₂O₄@Co₃O₄ / heterojunction / core/shell architectures

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