Sonochemical Synthesis of Copper-doped BiVO/g-CN Nanocomposite Materials for Photocatalytic Degradation of Bisphenol A under Simulated Sunlight Irradiation.

Copper-doped bismuth vanadate/graphitic carbon nitride (BiVO/g-CN) nanocomposite materials were successfully fabricated using a sonochemical approach. Cu-doped BiVO/g-CN nanocomposite photocatalysts could improve electron/hole (e/h) pair separation, stability, and light-harvesting efficiency compared to pristine BiVO or g-CN, resulting in the enhancement of photocatalytic activity. The optimal parameters, such as pH value at 10, photocatalyst dosage of 0.4 g L, and 10 mol% Cu-doped BiVO/g-CN photocatalyst, were determined to degrade initial concentration of 20 ppm Bisphenol A, which could be completely removed after 90 min. Furthermore, the excessive doping of copper (> 10 mol%) could not synthesize the pure monoclinic scheelite phase, which substantially resulted in the reduction of the photocatalytic activity.