Preparation of a novel type II/Z-scheme tandem heterojunction photocatalyst AgCl/UiO-66/g-C3N4 and its performance and mechanism in the efficient photocatalytic degradation of RhB

AgCl/UiO-66/g-C 3 N 4 ternary heterojunction was constructed. • ACU-70 achieved 99.4% RhB degradation within 105 min. • ACU-70 showed a rate constant of 0.05011 min −1 . • ·O 2 − and h + were identified as the dominant active species. • The Type-II/Z-scheme pathway promoted charge separation. Constructing heterojunctions is regarded as an effective strategy to facilitate the separation of photogenerated charge carriers. A novel Type-II/ Z -scheme tandem heterojunction AgCl/UiO-66/g-C 3 N 4 composite photocatalyst was successfully prepared in this study. The catalyst achieved a 99.4% degradation rate of RhB within 105 min, with an apparent kinetic constant k value of 0.05011 min −1 . These values are 15, 16, and 7.5 times higher than those of pure g-C 3 N 4 , UiO-66, and AgCl, respectively. ·O₂ − and h + are the main active species in the catalytic system. Combined with UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy results, the successful construction of the Type-II/ Z -scheme tandem heterojunction was further confirmed. A proposed mechanism for the enhanced photocatalytic activity of the AgCl/UiO-66/g-C 3 N 4 composite under UV–visible light illumination. Download: Download high-res image (112KB) Download: Download full-size image