Construction of novel Zn2TiO4/g-C3N4 Heterojunction with efficient photodegradation performance of tetracycline under visible light irradiation

This work presented facile fabrication of carbon nitride (CN)/zinc titanate (ZT) heterojunction by one-step ball milling process for visible light-induced photocatalytic degradation. The phase structures, morphologies, functional groups, and optical properties of the prepared materials were systematically characterized by XRD, FTIR, UV-Vis DRS, and SEM techniques. The ball milling for 10 min significantly improved visible light absorption properties; the as-synthesized ZT/CN catalyst (2.8 eV) showed lower band gap energy than bare ZT (3.2 eV). This result revealed a successful incorporation. The photocatalytic activities of the heterostructure catalysts (ZT/CN) evaluated by degrading tetracycline under visible light irradiation and highest TC removal rate were obtained as 0.0193 min(-1) for ZT/CN/5, which was 6.2 times higher than that of bare CN. The most efficient photocatalyst (ZT/CN/5) could be performed three times without any loss of phase. In addition, the heterostructure catalyst was found as promising candidate for efficient photocatalytic degradation of other antibiotics and dye components.

Automated summary

The study demonstrated the fabrication of a CN/ZT heterojunction photocatalyst through one-step ball milling with improved visible light absorption properties and efficient photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline. The heterostructure catalyst showed promising results for the degradation of antibiotics and dye components under visible light irradiation.