All-solid-state Z-scheme system of RGO-Cu2O/Fe2O3 for simultaneous hydrogen production and tetracycline degradation

Abstract

The Cu2O and Fe2O3 semiconductors were employed to construct a series of composite photocatalysts by one-step solvothermal synthesis. The reduced graphene oxide (RGO) was used as a solid-state medium to efficiently transport photogenerated electrons from the conduction band of Fe2O3 to valence band of Cu2O, which played a key role in the introduction of tetracycline (TC) degradation during H2 production. The RGO-Cu2O/Fe2O3 composites exhibited the more excellent photocatalytic performance than the single Cu2O or Fe2O3 on the H2 production and TC degradation. Moreover, it is the first time that TC was used as a scavenger to consume the holes during H2 production, resulting in a higher H2 production efficiency than that using methanol (equal mass). The H2 production from TC solution with the G50-7/3 composite was about eight times higher than that in pure water and five times higher than that from methanol solution. This work successfully concentrated H2 production and TC degradation in a system and TC in wastewater showed a huge development potential in the field of sacrificial agents for H2 production.