Boosted photocatalytic accomplishment of 3D/2D hierarchical structured Bi4O5I2/g-C3N4 p-n type direct Z-scheme heterojunction towards synchronous elimination of Cr(VI) and tetracycline

The threats posed by heavy metal ions and antibiotics present in natural aqueous environments have been a serious cause of concern across the globe. The synchronous elimination of these contaminants through visible light responsive semiconductor mediated photocatalysis is a suitable strategy to solve this problem. However, designing proficient photocatalysts for the said purpose is a crucial task. Herein, hierarchical 3D/2D architectures of Bi4O5I2/g-C3N4 p-n type direct Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalysts (BOCNs) were fabricated by a two-step solvothermal-calcination approach. The characterisation of BOCNs by XRD, FTIR, XPS, SEM, TEM, HRTEM, LSV and MS techniques corroborated the robust heterojunction formation between Bi4O5I2 and g-C3N4. The presence of g-C3N4 and application of high treatment temperature (400 °C) assisted the formation of BiOC bond which is responsible for the development of an intimate interfacial interaction in BOCN. The heterostructured photocatalyst (BOCN3) demonstrated higher rate constant (kCr(VI)/synchronous) of 0.068 min−1 for Cr(VI) detoxification and that (kTCH/synchronous) of 0.075 min−1 for TCH degradation synchronously with respect to the reported values. The determined rate constants are about 1.8 folds greater than those were observed in isolated systems. The expedited photocatalytic activity can be ascribed to its wide visible light response, minimum charge recombination rate and increased redox ability. These are resulted from the synergistic effect of hierarchical 3D/2D architecture construction, existence of strong BiOC interfacial bond, p-n heterojunction formation and prevalence of direct Z-scheme charge transfer principle. The synchronous elimination of Cr(VI) and TCH over BOCN3 up to the fifth consecutive cycle without any appreciable change in photoactivity signified its enhanced stability and reusability. The plausible mechanism for the spectacular photocatalytic performance of BOCN3 was proposed.