Abstract
The photocatalytic activity of organic photocatalysts is limited by the short exciton transport distance and insufficient oxidation capacity of photo-generated holes. In this paper, flower-like perylenetetracarboxylic-Zn(II) (Zn-PTC) superstructures formed by interspersed wafers were synthesized by precise control of the Zn2+ ion-induced assembly process. The thickness of the wafer is close to twice the diffusion distance of excitons which is beneficial to the transfer of photo-generated charges to the surface to participate in the reaction. Bi2WO6 with a positive valence band is selected to construct step-scheme heterojunction with Zn-PTC. Bi2WO6 is uniformly dispersed between the crossed crystal wafers of Zn-PTC. The photocatalytic efficiency of Zn-PTC/Bi2WO6 heterojunction for tetracycline degradation improves about 230% and 270% compared with pure Zn-PTC and Bi2WO6, respectively. The step-scheme charge transfer pathway of photo-generated charges between Zn-PTC and Bi2WO6 can effectively inhibit the recombination of photo-generated charges while making full use of electrons with more reduction ability on the CB of Zn-PTC and holes with more oxidation ability on the VB of Bi2WO6. The recycling experiment shows the high stability in the structure, morphology and photocatalytic performance of Zn-PTC/Bi2WO6 composite catalyst. Finally, the step-scheme charge transfer pathway is verified by DFT calculation, Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM), in situ irradiated X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and free radical detection by ESR and using terephthalic acid as the fluorescent probe. This study provides key guidance for the control of the morphology of the perylene-based superstructure and constructs a novel perylene-based heterojunction with excellent photocatalytic performance.
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