High‐Performance Photocatalytic Degradation of Rh‐B Under Simulated Sunlight by Cu‐Doped Bi ₂ O ₃ Nanonetwork

The synthesis of copper ion‐doped bismuth oxide nanonetwork structures has opened new horizons for enhancing their physical and chemical properties; it presents a novel growth mechanism for the low‐temperature hydrothermal synthesis of self‐assembled Cu‐doped Bi 2 O 3 nanostructures. The samples were characterized to assess their crystal structure through powder X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and morphology through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the optical band gap was estimated using UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, while the photocatalytic performance was assessed by tracking the degradation of Rhodamine B under UV–Vis light irradiation. The findings indicate that the diffuse reflectance measurements of the ionic metal‐doped samples exhibited a shift in the absorption gab situation toward longer wavelengths along with an enhanced absorption extending into the visible spectrum. It was found that copper doping substitutes bismuth oxide in the lattice and exists in the form of Cu 2+ . The enhanced photocatalytic activity observed in these samples is likely due to higher crystallinity. Furthermore, the improvement in activity can be ascribed to the distinctive electron structure of the nanonetwork, which plays a significant role in the transfer of photogenerated electrons.