%0 Journal Article %A Sin, J.-C. %A Lam, S.-M. %A Zeng, H. %A Lin, H. %A Li, H. %A Huang, L. %A Liaw, S.-J. %A Mohamed, A.R. %A Lim, J.-W. %D 2023 %F scholars:18531 %J Materials Today Sustainability %K Bacillus cereus; Bacteriology; Bromine compounds; Chromium compounds; Decomposition; Energy utilization; Escherichia coli; Europium; Photocatalytic activity; Wastewater treatment, reductions; 2,4-dichlorophenol degradation; Antimicrobial; Cr(VI) reduction; Dichlorophenols; Microflowers; Photo-activities; Photo-catalytic; Reactive species; Visible-light-driven, Bismuth compounds %R 10.1016/j.mtsust.2023.100340 %T Construction of visible light-driven Eu-doped BiOBr hierarchical microflowers for ameliorated photocatalytic 2,4-dichlorophenol and pathogens decomposition with synchronized hexavalent chromium reduction %U https://khub.utp.edu.my/scholars/18531/ %V 22 %X The presence of diverse environmental contaminants has posed unprecedented challenges to wastewater treatment. Herein, Eu-doped BiOBr hierarchical microflowers (Eu-BiOBr) were fabricated via a surfactant-free hydrothermal route as highly efficient photocatalysts for multipurpose wastewater remediation applications. Under visible light irradiation, the Eu-BiOBr products demonstrated meritorious photoactivity when exposed to the mixture solution of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) and Cr(VI). Noticeably, 97.6 of 2,4-DCP was degraded after 80 min, and a complete Cr(VI) reduction was obtained within 60 min over the optimized 2 at Eu-BiOBr. This was ascribed to Eu-doping efficiently accelerated charge separation and migration, thus proliferating more reactive species and enhancing photocatalytic performance. Moreover, the 2 at Eu-BiOBr possessed good photoactivity after four successive runs, which confirmed its recyclability. Further, as an evaluation of electrical energy consumption, the 2 at Eu-BiOBr was found to be more economical in decomposing both 2,4-DCP and Cr(VI). The reactive species scavenging tests validated that the hydroxyl radical played a major role for the photodegradation of 2,4-DCP whereas photogenerated electron served as predominant reactive species for Cr(VI) to be reduced to Cr(III). Additionally, the 2 at Eu-BiOBr demonstrated much enhanced bactericidal activities against Escherichia coli and Bacillus cereus compared to pristine BiOBr. These results revealed that the Eu-BiOBr can be employed as visible light-driven photocatalytic and antibacterial candidates for practical applications in environmental cleanup. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd %Z cited By 17