Construction and mechanism of a novel Z-scheme photocatalyst α-Fe2O3/P3HT with O-Ti-O for organic pollutant degradation under visible light

There is a great need to design a new method for fabricating efficient and cheap Z-scheme photocatalysts. For this reason, we synthesized a novel Z-scheme photocatalyst α-Fe 2 O 3 /P3HT with O-Ti-O charge transfer mediator. The effective compounding of each part was confirmed by different characterization methods. The charge transfer mechanism was confirmed to obey the Z-scheme mechanism by measuring the valence band value and by ESR experiments. Moreover, the Z-scheme mechanism in this system was further discussed based on the observed changes in the chemical structure and the theoretical calculation. Based on the characterization of the optical properties, this novel catalyst exhibited better charge transfer and separation abilities under visible light conditions due to its unique architecture. Additionally, this novel Z-scheme photocatalyst showed enhancement in the bisphenol A degradation effect, the degradation reaction was pseudo-first-order kinetics, a removal rate of up to 90% was maintained after four cycles. The BPA degradation pathway was also discussed in this study. This study provides a new approach for the construction of Z-scheme photocatalysts.