Fabrication of ZnSn(OH)6/ZnO/BiOBr with high photocatalytic efficiency in removal of various organic pollutants

ZnSn(OH)6/ZnO/BiOBr (ZHS/ZnO/BOB) and ZHS/ZnO/BOB loaded carbon fiber cloth (CFC) (ZHS/ZnO/[email protected]) photocatalysts were successfully prepared by co-precipitation and ultrasonic method. The ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflection (UV–vis DR) spectra showed that the absorption edge of ZHS/ZnO/BOB exhibits red-shift to the visible light region, compared with the ZHS/ZnO. The conduction band position (ECB) of ZHS, ZnO, and BOB were calculated to be − 0.12, − 0.22, and 0.36 eV vs. NHE, respectively, according to the Mott-Schottky (M-S) measurement. ZHS/ZnO/BOB presents flower-like spheres assembled from nanosheets. Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) tested the specific surface areas of ZHS/ZnO/BOB (21.01 m2 g−1). Based on the photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analysis, ZHS/ZnO/BOB possesses the strongest ability to inhibit electron-hole pair recombination and the lowest charge transfer resistance, which can be mainly ascribed to the formation of heterojunction among ZHS, ZnO, and BOB. The ZHS/ZnO/BOB exhibits a high photocatalytic degradation activity for rhodamine B (RhB, 97.30%), tetracycline (TC, 83.00%), and levofloxacin (LVX, 74.50%) under 80 min irradiation, respectively. Besides, ZHS/ZnO/[email protected] achieved 98.8% removal efficiency towards RhB. Furthermore, high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) revealed the possible degradation pathway of RhB during the photocatalysis process. Based on all the above, an easy approach for rational design of ternary photocatalyst towards the degradation of refractory pollutants was proposed.