In-situ synthesis of novel dual S-scheme AgI/Ag6Mo7O24/g-C3N4 heterojunctions with tandem structure for photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants

Abstract

The controllable design of multivariate heterojunction with sequential structures is of significant relevance for breaking the performance limit of binary composite photocatalysts. In this work, the novel dual S-scheme ternary-component AgI/Ag₆Mo₇O₂₄/exfoliated g-C₃N₄ (ECN) composite was prepared by a two-step in-situ synthetic strategy. The energy band bending at the heterointerface and the formation of dual built-in electric field could be observed due to distinct work functions of different components in the ternary composite. Benefiting from the sequential heterojunction structure, the AgI/Ag₆Mo₇O₂₄/ECN composite achieved 98.7% removal efficiency of 2-nitrophenol (2-NP) within 70 min under visible light irradiation, and AgI/Ag₆Mo₇O₂₄/ECN also showed higher degradation efficiency for a variety of organic pollutants such as methylene blue (MB), rhodamine B (RhB), methyl orange (MO), 4-nitrophenol (4-NP), 2-sec-butyl-4,6-dinitrophenol (DNBP) and tetracycline (TC). Notably, •OH and •O₂^- played dominant roles in the AgI/Ag₆Mo₇O₂₄/ECN set up, which was consistent with the dual S-scheme charge transfer mechanism. In-depth insights for the photodegradation of 2-NP were presented based on a combined DFT study and GC-MS analysis. Additionally, the photoreduction of Ag⁺ in AgI/Ag₆Mo₇O₂₄/ECN was also evaded by the fast transfer of photogenerated electrons through the dual S-scheme pathway, achieving the effect of killing two birds with one stone.

Keywords: Degradation pathway; Dual S-Scheme heterojunction; Photostability; Ternary composite photocatalyst; Two-step in-situ synthesis method.