Preparation, characterization and photocatalytic activity of CuBi2O4/NaTaO3 coupled photocatalysts

In this study, a series of p-CuBi2O4/n-NaTaO3 heteronanostructures were synthesized with the grinding–annealing method. The photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). The photocatalysts exhibit enhanced photocatalytic activity for methyl blue dye degradation under visible-light irradiation. The highest photocatalytic degradation efficiency was observed when the sample calcined at 500 °C with 50 wt.% CuBi2O4 content. On the basis of the calculated energy band positions, the mechanism of enhanced photocatalytic activity was discussed.