Au‐Mediated Composite In 2 S 3 –Au–BiVO 4 with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity for Organic Pollutant Degradation

A ternary composite photocatalyst In 2 S 3 –Au–BiVO 4 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 BiVO 4 crystals due to the oriented accumulation of electrons during the photo‐reduction stage. Based on the strong interaction between S−Au, In 2 S 3 was loaded on the surface of Au NPs on BiVO 4 {010} facets. Photocatalytic degradations of organic contaminants Rhodamine B and phenol indicated that In 2 S 3 –Au–BiVO 4 showed evidently improved visible light photocatalytic activity than BiVO 4 , Au–BiVO 4 , and In 2 S 3 –BiVO 4 . 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 In 2 S 3 –Au–BiVO 4 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 In 2 S 3 –Au–BiVO 4 , •OH, h + , and •O 2 − are the main reactive species which take part in the organic contaminant degradation.