Abstract
The pollution of pharmaceutical wastewater has attracted global attention. Photocatalysis is an attractive yet challenging method for the degradation of pharmaceutical residues. Fabricating efficient Z-scheme heterojunctions with intimate interface contact for enhancing the performance of photocatalysts is a challenge. Herein, novel visible-light-driven direct Z-scheme CuInS2/Bi2WO6 heterojunctions with intimate interface contact were successfully synthesized by in situ hydrothermal growth of Bi2WO6 directly on the surface of CuInS2 network-like microspheres, and the content of CuInS2 was optimized. The photocatalytic activity of optimal Z-scheme 15% CuInS2/Bi2WO6 for the degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride (TC•HCl) is more than three times that of bare CuInS2 and 17% higher than that of Bi2WO6, which is attributed that the intimate interface contact can assure excellent interfacial charge transfer abilities. Moreover, Z-scheme CuInS2/Bi2WO6 heterojunctions are highly stable with no inactivation in photocatalytic cycles. More importantly, real pharmaceutical industry wastewater can be efficiently disposed by Fenton-aided photocatalysis of Z-scheme CuInS2/Bi2WO6 heterojunctions with COD removal efficiency being 90.5%, which is much higher than the reported results, and thus sets a new performance benchmark for practical application in real pharmaceutical wastewater treatment.
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