Synthesis plasmonic Bi/BiVO4 photocatalysts with enhanced photocatalytic activity for degradation of tetracycline (TC)

Abstract

Abstract In recent years, the excessive use of antibiotics has become a serious problem for human health. BiVO4 regarded as one of the most promising visible-light-driven photocatalysts was used to degrade the antibiotics. In this paper, we fabricated Bi/BiVO4 plasmonic photocatalysts which enhanced the photocatalytic activity of BiVO4 for degradation of tetracycline (TC) antibiotic. The Bi/BiVO4 photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. In addition, the photocatalytic experiment results show that the 0.04-Bi/BiVO4 sample has the best photocatalytic activity for 2 times than the pure BiVO4 photocatalyst. The cycle experiments, after four repetitions of the experiments, showed the sample still maintained a high photocatalytic activity. Finally, the photocatalytic reaction mechanism was also studied by free radical capture experiments and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy.