Effectual light-harvesting and electron-hole separation for enhanced photocatalytic decontamination of endocrine disruptor using Cu2O/BiOI nanocomposite

Abstract

Abstract Any body system controlled by hormones (or endocrine) can be spoilt by hormone disruptors. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a notorious endocrine disruptor, found in the inside coating of infant formula cans, plastic food containers and plastic bottles. This hazardous BPA causes breast malignancy, thyroid tumor, and prostate cancer. More importantly it induces hormonal imbalance resulting in sexual growth problems such as male-feminization and female-masculinization. Hence, its destruction from food, water and environment is very much required. Amongst the techniques employed for the degradation of perilous pollutant such as BAP, an effective technique is photocatalysis, in which the key issue is the development of materials with high photocatalytic efficiency. The fast recombination of light-produced electron-hole pairs, trivial surface area and deprived visible light utilization are the major negatives associated with any photocatalyst. These issues have been overcome here with the aid of one-step assembled oxygen vacancy-rich semiconductor, dicopper oxide doped iodo(oxo)bismuthine (Cu2O/BiOI). The as-prepared nanocomposite behaves in an outstanding way for the photocatalytic destruction of BPA (99.9%) under visible light irradiation. A suitable reaction mechanism has been recommended for the photocatalysis. This work, by and large, kindles new visions for achieving high-performance photocatalysis which will be very much useful for environmental remediation.