Co2-Fe8-BTC/g-C3N4/Bi2O3/Ti photoanode for visible light responsive photocatalytic fuel cell degradation of rhodamine B and electricity generation

The Co2-Fe8-BTC/g-C3N4/Bi2O3/Ti 2-Fe 8-BTC/g-C 3 N 4 /Bi 2 O 3 /Ti photoanode with the double Z-type heterojunction was produced by hydro- thermal technique and to assemble visible light responsive photocatalytic fuel cell (PFC) with Cu cathode. The synthesized photoanode was characterized by SEM, FT-IR, XPS, XRD and UV-vis DRS analysis. The maximum photocurrent density, maximum power density, and rhodamine B degradation rate of the PFC were 0.53 mA center dot cm-- 2 , 33.56 mu W center dot cm-2,-2 , and 96.89 % (60 min), respectively, which were much higher than these of PFCs with g-C3N4/ 3 N 4 / Bi2O3/Ti 2 O 3 /Ti photoanode (0.19 mA center dot cm-2,-2 , 11.64 mu W center dot cm-2,-2 , 55.37 %, respectively) and Bi2O3/Ti 2 O 3 /Ti photoanode (0.15 mA center dot cm-2,-2 , 6.63 mu W center dot cm-2,-2 , 41.67 %, respectively). The electricity generation performance and rhodamine B degradation of this PFC system is greatly enhanced by the double Z-type heterojunctions of the photoanode among Co2-Fe8-BTC, 2-Fe 8-BTC, g-C3N4 3 N 4 and Bi2O3, 2 O 3 , which accelerates the isolation of photogenerated carriers, and also retains good redox capability, thus obtaining high photocatalytic activity. This work can serve as reference for the design and heterojunction construction of high-efficiency photoanode of PFC with visible light response.