Facile Synthesis of Flower-Like AgI/BiOBr Z-Scheme Nanocomposite with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity for Degradation of 17α-Estradiol (EE2)

In the present work, a direct Z-scheme AgI/BiOBr heterojunction displaying improved photocatalytic activity was designed by a chemical bath deposition method. The obtained photocatalysts were systematically characterized through XRD, SEM, XPS, BET and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The synthesized AgI/BiOBr photocatalyst displayed superior photocatalytic performance in the case of 17 alpha-ethinylestradiol (EE2), where 97.0% compound has been removed within 9 min of irradiation. The rate constant using AgI/BiOBr photo-catalyst was 16.0 and 138.7 times more than that of pure AgI and BiOBr, respectively. Furthermore, the photocatalytic mechanism was investigated. The results of this study indicated that AgI/BiOBr was a stable and efficient photocatalyst, with promising practical applications.