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 g-1 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 gL-1 15% CuAl2O4/ BaSnO3 at an initial rate of 20.0 mu M 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.