Construction of Z-scheme heterojunction of (BiO)2CO3/ZnFe-LDH for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline

A novel (BiO) 2 CO 3 /ZnFe-LDH photocatalyst was fabricated via a simple hydrothermal method for degradation of tetracycline aqueous solution. Due to the unique band structures of (BiO) 2 CO 3 and ZnFe-LDH, the combination of these two materials formed a Z-scheme heterojunction, which was conducive to the separation of photo-generated carriers. Through measuring the absorbance, it was found that the composite with 5% ZnFe-LDH has the optimal photocatalytic performance among all the samples. 98.09% of tetracycline (TC) was degraded after adsorption for 30 min and light irradiation for 90 min. In addition, the (BiO) 2 CO 3 /ZnFe-LDH composite displayed a remarkable reusability and stability in five successive runs. Based on the results of characterization and performance, a possible photocatalytic mechanism was proposed. This work would be helpful for the application of composites in the field of photocatalysis .