Zeynab Khazaee - Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
Alireza Mahjoub - Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

A low-cost composite of CuO nanoneedles and bismuth nanocrystals has been fabricated by afacile reduction route. The designed photocatalyst has been investigated through various techniques, i.e. XRD,SEM, TEM, and UV−vis diffuse reflectance. SEM and TEM images confirmed the growth of hexagonal prismsof metallic bismuth nanocrystalson the CuO nanoneedles. The results from UV-Vis DRS showed that the BimodifiedCuO samples have a wider visible light response and smaller band gap compared to the pure phaseCuO. The visible light-driven photocatalytic degradation of ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin antibiotics wasdramatically enhanced on the CuO/Bi composites during ۹۰ min reaction time which is ∼۲ times that of thepristine CuO. The synergistic effects of light absorption of Bi crystals and the contact between the twocomponents at the interface of CuO and Bihave led to high photocatalytic performance of the nanocomposite.

Photocatalysis, Copper Oxide, Bismuth crystal, Ciprofloxacin, Ofloxacin.