Peroxymonosulfate activated by photocatalytic fuel cell with g-C3N4/BiOI/Ti photoanode to enhance rhodamine B degradation and electricity generation

The development of traditional photocatalytic fuel cell (PFC) is severely hindered by poor visible-light response and limited reaction space. In this study, a visible-light responsive PFC with g-C3N4/BiOI/Ti photoanode was proposed and applied to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to degrade rhodamine B. The degradation rate, maximum power density and maximum photocurrent density of the PMS/PFC system were respectively 95.39%, 103.87 mu W cm(-2) and 0.62 mA cm(-2), which was respectively 1.28, 2.18, and 1.98 times that of PFC. The excellent performance is attributed to the production of more reactive oxygen species and the extension of the reaction space range after the activation of PMS. The activation pathway of PMS and charge transfer pathway of the photoanode were discussed in detail, and it was proposed that PMS was activated by Z-scheme heterojunction gC(3)N(4)/BiOI/Ti photoanode.

Automated summary

A visible-light responsive PFC with g-C3N4/BiOI/Ti photoanode was proposed and showed excellent performance in degrading rhodamine B, with a degradation rate of 95.39%, maximum power density of 103.87 μW cm(-2), and maximum photocurrent density of 0.62 mA cm(-2), which were significantly higher than traditional PFC. The enhanced performance was attributed to the production of more reactive oxygen species and the extension of the reaction space range after the activation of PMS.