Fabrication of Cu2O/Bi25FeO40 nanocomposite and its enhanced photocatalytic mechanism and degradation pathways of sulfamethoxazole

In the study, cuprous oxide (Cu 2 O) combined with sillenite bismuth ferrite (Bi 25 FeO 40 ) was successfully fabricated through hydrothermal strategy. Subsequently, physicochemical properties of Cu 2 O/Bi 25 FeO 40 were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), N 2 adsorption/desorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements (XPS), UV visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). The experimental results indicated that Cu 2 O/Bi 25 FeO 40 exhibited a significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity , which 85.0% of sulfamethoxazole was decomposed in 120 min under irradiation. Afterwards, scavenger experiments have been carried out to determine the contributions of different species and h + and H 2 O 2 were manifested to be staple reactive species during the process of sulfamethoxazole (SMX) degradation. In addition, Cu 2 O/Bi 25 FeO 40 nanocomposite showed good stabilities. And the degradation efficiency of SMX still reached 84.9% after five recycle experiments. Furthermore, some plausible degradation pathways of sulfamethoxazole were detected by a high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Finally, the enhanced visible light photocatalytic mechanism was proposed reasonably. Eventually, this study provides a novel strategy to prepare catalyst which could be potentially applied in emerging pollutants elimination.