All-solid-state Z-scheme system of RGO-Cu2O/Fe2O3 for simultaneous hydrogen production and tetracycline degradation

The Cu2O and Fe2O3 semiconductors were employed to construct a series of composite photocatalysts by one-step solvothermal synthesis. The reduced graphene oxide (RGO) was used as a solid-state medium to efficiently transport photogenerated electrons from the conduction band of Fe2O3 to valence band of Cu2O, which played a key role in the introduction of tetracycline (TC) degradation during H-2 production. The RGO-Cu2O/ Fe2O3 composites exhibited the more excellent photocatalytic performance than the single Cu2O or Fe2O3 on the H-2 production and TC degradation. Moreover, it is the first time that TC was used as a scavenger to consume the holes during H-2 production, resulting in a higher H-2 production efficiency than that using methanol (equal mass). The H-2 production from TC solution with the G50-7/3 composite was about eight times higher than that in pure water and five times higher than that from methanol solution. This work successfully concentrated H-2 production and TC degradation in a system and TC in wastewater showed a huge development potential in the field of sacrificial agents for H-2 production. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.