Rational design of AgCl@Zr3+-ZrO2 nanostructures for ultra-efficient visible-light photodegradation of emerging pollutants

Achieving high-efficiency charge separation and strong oxidizing capacity are of great significance for photodegradation of organic pollutants . Herein, novel self-doped Zr 3+ -ZrO 2 nanoclusters and AgCl@Zr 3+ -ZrO 2 heterostructures with high surface areas were fabricated for photodegradation of organic pollutants under visible-light illumination. The experimental results revealed that self-doped Zr 3+ -ZrO 2 clusters were formed during a carbothermal reduction process, and the adsorbed surface chlorine promoted the adhesions of Ag + to form AgCl over the surface of Zr 3+ -ZrO 2 clusters. The obtained AgCl@Zr 3+ -ZrO 2 heterojunctions displayed ultrahigh-performance degradation of norfloxacin under visible-light illumination, and the prepared AgCl@Zr 3+ -ZrO 2 -11 heterojunction presented the highest photocatalytic performance with a rate constant of 0.21989 min −1 , which was approximately 62.12 times that of Zr 3+ -ZrO 2 clusters and 21.95 times that of AgCl and far better than that of commercial ZrO 2 . The formation of Zr 3+ self-doping, strongly combined interfaces, and high surface areas highly promoted charge separation for highly enhanced photodegradation of organic pollutants.