Heterojunction material BiYO3/g-C3N4 modified with cellulose nanofibers for photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline

Haoyang Xu; Yujuan Zhang; Yao Wang; Liang Zhang; Zhiqiang Zhang; Lvling Zhong; Zhixian He; Yage Zheng; Yue Shen

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.120829

Heterojunction material BiYO₃/g-C₃N₄ modified with cellulose nanofibers for photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline

Carbohydr Polym. 2023 Jul 15:312:120829. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.120829. Epub 2023 Mar 20.

Authors

Haoyang Xu¹, Yujuan Zhang², Yao Wang³, Liang Zhang⁴, Zhiqiang Zhang⁵, Lvling Zhong⁶, Zhixian He⁷, Yage Zheng⁶, Yue Shen⁶

Affiliations

¹ College of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.
² School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, People's Republic of China.
³ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: wyspacestar@aliyun.com.
⁴ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China; College of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China; School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: zl98zl@hotmail.com.
⁵ Department of Material and Chemical Engineering, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, Zhengzhou, Henan 450002, People's Republic of China.
⁶ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.
⁷ Instrumental Analysis Center, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710055, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 37059555
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.120829

Abstract

Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) with large specific surface area and superb adsorption capacity are excellent photocatalyst carriers. In this study, heterojunction powder material BiYO₃/g-C₃N₄ was successfully synthesized for the photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline (TC). The photocatalytic material BiYO₃/g-C₃N₄/CNFs was obtained by loading BiYO₃/g-C₃N₄ on CNFs using electrostatic self-assembly method. BiYO₃/g-C₃N₄/CNFs exhibit a fluffy porous structure and large specific surface area, strong absorption in the visible light range, and the rapid transfer of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Polymer-modified photocatalytic materials overcome the disadvantages of powder materials that are easy to reunite and difficult to recover. With synergistic effects of adsorption and photocatalysis, the catalyst demonstrated excellent TC removal efficiency, and the composite maintained nearly 90 % of its initial photocatalytic degradation activity after five cycles of use. The superior photocatalytic activity of the catalysts is also attributable to the formation of heterojunctions, and the heterojunction electron transfer pathway was confirmed by experimental studies and theoretical calculations. This work demonstrates that there is great research potential in using polymer modified photocatalysts to improve photocatalyst performance.

Keywords: BiYO(3)/g-C(3)N(4)/CNFs; Cellulose nanofibers; Heterojunctions; Photodegradation; TC.