Advanced bio-inspired Cu₃P/g-C₃N₅@Cu with highly dispersed Cu₃P nanoclusters for superior visible-light-driven pollutant degradation

Mimicking the photochemical principles of plants is crucial to maximumly improve the dye-degradation activity of photocatalyst. Herein, a bio-inspired Cu3P/g-C3N5@Cu was prepared by employing a mild oxidation-reduction route. The highly dispersed Cu3P nanoclusters and g-C3N5 modification effect in Murry structure was confirmed by means of relevant characterization analysis. Notably, the resulting Cu3P/g-C3N5@Cu displayed the optimal dye-degradation activity (RhB 99.38% and MO 87.57%), which was 2.97 and 3.93 fold enhancement relative to that of bare g-C3N5, respectively. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of Cu3P/g-C3N5@Cu could be ascribed to the increased light absorption and charge separation efficiency. Through trapping experiments and EPR characterization, it was confirmed that center dot O-2(-) is the most important active free radical. Additionally, from DFT results, Fukui index indicates that S, N and O were the reactive sites that are easy to be attacked. Furthermore, based on the experiments and DFT calculations, a Z-scheme mechanism was proposed.