Facile fabrication of Ag2O/Bi12GeO20 heterostructure with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity for the degradation of various antibiotics

The Ag2O/Bi12GeO20 heterostructures were successfully synthesized through a simple hydrothermal method. The synthesized Ag2O/Bi12GeO20 heterostructure showed superior photocatalytic activity for degrading various antibiotics, such as Tetracycline (TC), Levofloxacin (LEV) and Ciprofloxacin (CIP) aqueous solution as compared to the pure Bi12GeO20. The reason of the improved photocatalytic performance was ascribed to the interfacial interaction between Ag2O and Bi12GeO20, which could improve separation efficiency and charge transfer of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Furthermore, after six cycle experiments, the synthesized heterostructure showed high stability toward the photodegradation of TC aqueous solution. Finally, the photocatalytic mechanism was determined by the trapping experiment and electron spin-resonance spectroscopy technology.