ZnO/Cu
2O/g-C
3N
4 heterojunctions with enhanced photocatalytic activity for removal of hazardous antibiotics.
Heliyon 2022;
8:e12644. [PMID:
36643305 PMCID:
PMC9834774 DOI:
10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e12644]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2022] [Revised: 10/27/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
In view of the environmental pollution caused by antibiotics, the creation of an efficient photocatalytic material is an effectual way to carry out water remediation. Herein, we developed a smart strategy to synthesize ZnO/Cu2O/g-C3N4 heterojunction photocatalysts for the photodegradation of hazardous antibiotics by one-pot synthesis method. In this system, the Cu2O nanoparticles with electrons reducing capacity were coupled with g-C3N4 composites. The photocarriers were generated from the electric field of type Ⅰ heterojunction between ZnO and g-C3N4 and type Ⅱ heterojunction between Cu2O and g-C3N4. ZnO as a co-catalyst was doped to Cu2O/g-C3N4 catalyst system for removal of broad-spectrum antibiotics with the condition of visible light to protect Cu2O from photocorrosion, which thereby accelerated photocatalytic reactivity. Benefiting by new p-n-n heterojunction, the resulting ZnO/Cu2O/g-C3N4 composites had an excellent degradation performance of broad-spectrum antibiotics such as tetracycline (TC), chlortetracycline (CTC), oxytetracycline (OTC) and ciprofloxacin (CIP), the degradation of which were 98.79%, 99.5%, 95.35% and 73.53%. In particular, ZnO/Cu2O/g-C3N4 photocatalysts showed a very high degradation rate of 98.79% for TC in first 30 min under visible light, which was 1.35 and 10.62 times higher than that of Cu2O/g-C3N4 and g-C3N4, respectively. This work gives a fresh visual aspect for simultaneously solving the instability deficiencies of traditional photocatalysts and improving photocatalytic performance.
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