Achieve efficient photocatalytic degradation of multiple pollutants by constructing WO3-x/BiOBr heterojunctions with hierarchical structure on carbon fibre cloths

Abstract

Photocatalytic technology has shown excellent application potential in water pollution treatment, but the design and preparation of reusable photocatalysts that can degrade multiple pollutants with high efficiency is a major difficulty limiting the development of this field. Herein, the CF/WO3-x/BiOBr heterojunctions with hierarchical structures were synthesized via a two-step hydrothermal method, in which sheet BiOBr with high-efficiency {001} exposed crystal plane self-assembled into flower-like structure. Due to the unique microstructure control and suitable energy band structure matching, the CF/WO3-x/BiOBr-2.5 M has shown excellent photodegradation effect on a variety of pollutants at the same time (91.2 % for RhB dye, 71.5 % for TCH antibiotic and 88.2 % for Cr(VI) heavy metal pollutant). The synthesis of WO3-x/BiOBr heterojunctions enabled an efficient redox reaction, which facilitated the effective separation and transport of electron-hole pairs. Overall, the results provide a novel approach to designing cloth-based photocatalytic systems with unique structures capable of degrading multiple pollutants.