Mechanism insight into near-infrared light-driven Cu2O/WO2 Ohmic contact photothermal catalysts for high-efficient antibiotic wastewater purification

Near-infrared (NIR) light-induced photothermal effect is beneficial for accelerating the catalytic process, so that it is imperative to develop novel photothermal catalysts for promoting the practical application. Herein, we have purposefully synthesized NIR-responsive Cu2O/WO2 Ohmic contact photothermal catalysts through a facile ethylene glycol-assisted liquid-phase reduction method. As for this photothermal catalyst, new-typed NIR-responsive Cu2O semiconductor is integrated with NIR-responsive WO2 semimetal component to form an Ohmic contact, which is more beneficial for simultaneously promoting photocharge separation and enhancing NIR light absorption for high-efficient photothermal effect. As expected, the Cu2O/WO2 composite displays higher NIR light-driven photothermal catalytic performance for removing tetracycline wastewater. Various characterizations and density functional theory calculations have been performed to uncover the mechanism insight into the NIR light-driven Cu2O/WO2 Ohmic contact photothermal catalysts in depth. Wistfully, this research could provide a useful guideline for scientific people now focusing on photothermal engineering of new composite photocatalysts.