Enhanced visible-light photocatalytic remediation of atrazine over CuAl2O4-modified BaSnO3 nanoplatelets synthesized by sol-gel route

Photocatalytic remediation of organic pollutants employing semiconducting nanocomposites is a capable, green, and feasible approach. In this work, the photocatalytic mineralization of emerging atrazine herbicide (AtZ) is realized utilizing sol-gel-prepared barium stannate (BaSnO3) nanoplatelets that are impregnated with copper aluminate (CuAl2O4) nanoparticles for the first time. The formed CuAl2O4/BaSnO3 p-n heterojunctions signified mesostructured texture with surface areas of 173–192 m2 g1 and 7.94 nm of pore diameter. The light harvesting in the visible regime is improved thanks to the controllable addition of CuAl2O4 at 15.0~20.0 wt.% reducing the bandgap to 2.66 eV. The photocatalytic mineralization of AtZ has been achieved over 2.0 gL1 15% CuAl2O4/BaSnO3 at an initial rate of 20.0 µM min–1 within 40 min. Also, this optimized photocatalyst can be reused five times with 97% of its first-time use. The superb performance of CuAl2O4/BaSnO3 is attributed to the efficient p-n heterojunction formation and improved visible-light harvesting that allows superior charge transfer toward the photooxidation process.