Tubular microreactors with Cu, S-CQDs/BiVO4 composites supported on inner wall for photocatalytic applications

This paper presents a novel tubular microreactor immobilized a photocatalyst to overcome the limitations of low light utilization and the challenges associated with catalyst recovery in traditional photocatalysis reactors. The copper-sulfur co-doped carbon quantum dots (Cu, S-CQDs)/bismuth vanadate (BiVO 4 ) composites were successfully immobilized on the inner surface of the microreactor channel through the sol–gel process. The catalytic layer in the microreactor enlarged the specific surface area and facilitated the mass transfer. Meanwhile, it also greatly reduced the consumption of chemical supplies and eliminated the need for recycling the photocatalyst. The morphology and structural features of the catalytic layer were studied by characterization. Then the photocatalytic performance of the microreactor was evaluated by photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B. The photocatalytic kinetics of the photocatalytic reaction in the microreactor was 0.60925, which was 10.49 times greater than that in the macroscopic system. The results showed that the microreactor led to a significant improvement in degradation efficiency. The reproducibility experiments conducted on the microreactor system further demonstrate its excellent stability. In short, integrating the beneficial properties of microreactors with Cu, S-CQDs/BiVO 4 exhibits highly promising prospects of photocatalytic applications.