Photocatalytic reaction pathways and mechanisms investigation for effective organic pollution degradation via in-situ construction of BiOCl/UiO66-NH2 heterostructure

Constructing heterostructured photocatalysts is a desirable strategy for the enhanced degradation performance of pollutants from wastewater. In this work, BiOCl/UiO66-NH2 photocatalysts were constructed by in-situ solvothermal method. The composites presented enhanced photocatalytic activity for the degradation of Ciprofloxacin (CIP), Tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) and Rhodamine B (RhB) under simulated sunlight. The formation of the porous structure via the introduction of UiO66-NH2 not only enhances the adsorption ability of the catalyst but also promotes light harvesting, which enables the samples to exhibit high photocatalytic performance. In addition, the probable photodegradation pathways and mechanisms were studied in detail. This work provides an effective route for removing various pollutants in wastewater with heterojunction photocatalysts.