FeOOH Quantum Dot-Coupled Z-Scheme BiVO<sub>4</sub>/g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub> Heterojunction for Enhancing Photo-Fenton Reactions
Rui Liu, Ru Li, Lei Yang, Rongxu Wang, Hanyang Chen, Nan Wang, Zhi Li, You-Qiang Chen, Seeram Ramakrishna, Yun‐Ze Long
Abstract
Herein, FeOOH quantum dots and a Z-scheme BiVO 4 /g-C 3 N 4 catalyst were coupled to obtain a Z-scheme heterojunction for photo-Fenton reactions to facilitate the transport of electrons and the generation of radicals. The obtained materials exhibited better visible light-driven photo-Fenton degradation of Rhodamine B, which is 22.06 times as high as pure BiVO 4, 18.65 times as high as pure g-C 3 N 4, and 3.44 times as high as BiVO 4 /g-C 3 N 4, showing great potential in photo-Fenton degradation of pollutants. Moreover, the performance tests, radical capture experiments, and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy revealed that electron migration exists between the BiVO 4 /g-C 3 N 4 and FeOOH-QDs. This composite system accelerates the cycling of Fe 3+ /Fe 2+ during the photo-Fenton process, thus continuously generating reactive species (hydroxyl radicals (−OH) and superoxide radicals (−O 2 – )), leading to the rapid degradation of organic pollutants.