Study on visible light photocatalytic performance of BiVO4 modified by graphene analogue boron nitride

In this study, a variety of boron nitride (BN) modified BiVO4 (BN–BiVO4) composites with visible-light response were prepared and used to degrade tetracyclines (TCs), including tetracycline (TC) and oxytetracycline (OTC). When treating the TCs solution under visible light irradiation, 4BN-BiVO4 displayed high photocatalytic performance (87.1% for TC and 86.2% for OTC), which were 3.6 and 2.3 times than that of BiVO4, respectively. Photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and transient photocurrent proved that the combination of BN and BiVO4 effectively promotes the efficient separation of photogenerated electrons and holes in the material, resulting in enhanced photocatalytic activity. Further, radical trapping experiments in combination with electron spin resonance (ESR) revealed that ·OH radicals and holes were the predominant reactive species. Ultimately, the possible photocatalytic mechanism for TCs degradation was proposed on the basis of the experiments and characterization analysis. This study offers a new promising approach for the design of photocatalysts with visible-light response for efficient TCs elimination.