Construction of a Novel Visible-Light-Driven Z-Scheme NiAl-LDH Modified (BiO)2CO3 Heterostructure for Enhanced Photocatalytic Degradation Antibiotics Performance in Natural Water Bodies

Abstract

The construction of a photocatalyst with a heterostructure for the photocatalytic degradation of antibiotics in wastewater is considered as an ecofriendly and promising strategy. Herein, the two-dimensional NiAl-LDH nanosheets were uniformly grown on the (BiO)2CO3 matrix, successfully forming a series of Z-scheme heterojunction NiAl-LDH/(BiO)2CO3 photocatalysts. When the mass fraction of (BiO)2CO3 achieved 25%, the prepared heterojunction photocatalyst exhibits superior performance (0.01193 min–1) and excellent stability (five cycles) for photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline. Moreover, the prepared heterojunction had a faster degradation rate in a natural water body, which indicated its excellent practicability. Due to the matched energy bands, Z-scheme heterojunctions were formed between two semiconductors. The Z-scheme heterojunction can effectively promote the separation efficiency of photogenerated charge-hole pairs and generate more active electrons and holes, therefore providing more radicals and active sites for photocatalytic reactions. This work is expected to be used to remove antibiotics from actual water bodies.