Achieving UV and visible-light photocatalytic activity enhancement of AgI/BiOIO3 heterostructure: Decomposition for diverse industrial contaminants and high mineralization ability

Heterostructure photocatalyst fabrication is of great significance for promoting the photoreactivity and solar-energy utilization efficiencies. In this work, AgliBiOIO(3) heterostructure photocatalysts are synthesized by a facile in-situ crystallization of AgI on BiOIO3. The photocatalytic performance is first surveyed by decomposition of model dye methyl orange (MO) separately with illumination of UV light and visible-light (lambda > 420 nm). It indicates that AgI/BiOIO3 shows highly improved photocatalytic activity regardless of the light source, which should be attributed to the matchable band energy levels between AgI and BiOIO3, benefiting the efficient charge separation. Notably, AgI/BiOIO3 shows a universal photocatalytic activity for treating diverse antibiotics and phenols, including tetracycline hydrochloride, chlortetracycline hydrochloride, 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP), phenol and bisphenol A (BPA), and the strong mineralization ability of AgI/BiOIO3 was also demonstrated. Additionally, the different mechanisms under UV and visible light irradiation are investigated in detail. This work provides a new reference for design and manipulation of high-performance nonselective heterostructure photocatalyst for environmental purification. (C) 2017 Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.