Developing a Z-scheme Ag2CO3/ZIF-8 heterojunction for the surface decoration of cotton fabric toward repeatable photocatalytic dye degradation

Abstract

This paper presents a novel strategy for fabricating efficient, tailorable, and reusable photocatalytic cotton fabrics (CF) using the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method with Ag2CO3-doped zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) to degrade residual dyes from the textile industry. The Z-scheme photocatalytic degradation mechanism of ZIF-8/Ag2CO3/CF is also proposed. The results reveal that ZIF-8/Ag2CO3/CF prepared via 10 SILAR cycles photocatalytically degraded 91 % rhodamine B in 30 min. ZIF-8/Ag2CO3/CF had 15-fold higher photocatalytic activity than ZIF-8/CF. This enhancement was due to various effects, including, 1) the scattering of ZIF-8/Ag2CO3 nanoparticles on the fiber surface rather than inducing agglomeration using the SILAR method, 2) the prevention of Ag2CO3 photocorrosion by ZIF-8, and 3) the suppression of the recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes. Moreover, ZIF-8/Ag2CO3/CF maintained 85 % photocatalytic degradation efficiency after five cycles, indicating its high reusability potential. Overall, this research offers a facile process for fabricating efficient, stable, and reusable photocatalytic fabrics to tackle the wastewater treatment issue in the textile industry.