Achieving UV and visible-light photocatalytic activity enhancement of AgI/BiOIO3 heterostructure:Decomposition for diverse industrial contaminants and high mineralization ability

Heterostructure photocatalyst fabrication is of great significance for promoting the photoreactivity and solar-energy utilization efficiencies. In this work, AgI/BiOIO₃ heterostructure photocatalysts are synthesized by a facile in-situ crystallization of AgI on BiOIO₃. The photocatalytic performance is first surveyed by decomposition of model dye methyl orange (MO) separately with illumination of UV light and visible-light (λ> 420 nm). It indicates that AgI/BiOIO₃ shows highly improved photocatalytic activity regardless of the light source, which should be attributed to the matchable band energy levels between AgI and BiOIO₃, benefiting the efficient charge separation. Notably, AgI/BiOIO₃ shows a universal photocatalytic activity for treating diverse antibiotics and phenols, including tetracycline hydrochloride, chlortetracycline hydrochloride, 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP), phenol and bisphenol A (BPA), and the strong mineralization ability of AgI/BiOIO₃ was also demonstrated. Additionally, the different mechanisms under UV and visible light irradiation are investigated in detail. This work provides a new reference for design and manipulation of high-performance nonselective heterostructure photocatalyst for environmental purification.