Au‐Mediated Composite In2S3–Au–BiVO4 with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity for Organic Pollutant Degradation

A ternary composite photocatalyst In2S3–Au–BiVO4 was fabricated by stepwise photo‐reduction and deposition−precipitation methods. It was found that the Au nanoparticles (NPs) were selectively anchored on the {010} facets of decahedral BiVO4 crystals due to the oriented accumulation of electrons during the photo‐reduction stage. Based on the strong interaction between S−Au, In2S3 was loaded on the surface of Au NPs on BiVO4 {010} facets. Photocatalytic degradations of organic contaminants Rhodamine B and phenol indicated that In2S3–Au–BiVO4 showed evidently improved visible light photocatalytic activity than BiVO4, Au–BiVO4, and In2S3–BiVO4. On the basis of the photoelectrochemical and photoluminescence (PL) analyses, it can be inferred that the facet hetero‐juction and Au‐mediated composite structures of In2S3–Au–BiVO4 can improve the separation efficiency of photo‐generated carriers as well as make the carriers keep higher redox ability. The radical trapping experiments indicated that for In2S3–Au–BiVO4, •OH, h+, and •O2− are the main reactive species which take part in the organic contaminant degradation. A ternary composite photocatalyst In2S3–Au–BiVO4 was fabricated by stepwise photo‐reduction and deposition−precipitation methods. In2S3–Au–BiVO4 shows evidently enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity for organic pollutant degradation, which is because the ternary structure of In2S3–Au–BiVO4 not only improves the separation efficiency of photo‐generated carriers but also makes the carriers with keep stronger redox ability.