Novel visible-light-driven direct Z-scheme Zn3V2O8/Ag3PO4 heterojunctions for enhanced photocatalytic performance

Construction of high-stability heterojunctions for two-dimensional composites with enhanced photocatalytic performance is regarded as a promising approach to treat wastewater. Herein, the novel direct Z-scheme Zn3V2O8/Ag3PO4 heterostructured photocatalyst was rationally fabricated via a simple two-step solution method, demonstrating importantly enhanced activity of methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation. Particularly, the degradation rate constant (k(app)) of 20%Zn3V2O8/Ag3PO4 heterojunction is as high as 0.0715 min(-1), which is 1.55 and 35.76 times higher than that of pristine Ag3PO4 and Zn3V2O8, respectively. Additionally, 20%Zn3V2O8/Ag3PO4 composite has excellent stability and its degradation efficiency can still maintain about 90% after four cycles. Based on the reasonable characterizations and analyses for the heterostructure, the enhanced photocatalytic property and excellent stability can be ascribe to the formation of a novel direct Z-scheme heterojunction between Zn3V2O8 and Ag3PO4, which presents high-efficient charge carriers separation, improved redox capacity and excellent visible light absorption. This work offers a new strategy to design the direct Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst in the degradation. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.