Construction and characterization of ternary BiOBr/Bi/CoWO4 composites and study on sonocatalysis degradation of tetracycline

In this paper, ternary BiOBr/Bi/CoWO4 composites with high sonocatalysis activity were prepared by the chemical precipitation method. Numerous techniques were used to analyze the physicochemical characteristics of composites made of BiOBr/Bi/CoWO4. The degradation of tetracycline (TC) was used to assess the sonocatalysis activity of the produced composites. The findings revealed that the sonocatalysis degradation efficiency of 1 g/L BiOBr/Bi/CoWO4 composite and 30 mg/L TC solution reached 91.58% under ultrasonic radiation (500 W) for 120 min. The degradation effect of BiOBr/Bi/CoWO4 sonocatalyst on TC is better than that of pure CoWO4. Four recycling experiments fully proved the good stability and recyclability of BiOBr/Bi/CoWO4. The scavenger experiment showed that hydroxyl radical (·OH) played a major role in the process of sonocatalysis degradation of TC. The potential sonodegradation mechanism based on the sonocatalysis reaction demonstrated that the recombination of BiOBr and Bi can enhance the efficiency of electron-hole pair (e−-h+) separation. This article confirms the great potentiality of BiOBr/Bi/CoWO4 composites in wastewater treatment and they can be used as an ideal alternative material for toxic organic pollutants, which provides a valuable reference for synthesizing and using composite sonocatalysts.