The development of new technologies for efficient degradation of pollutant has been an increasing demand in the globe due to the serious environmental issues. Herein, we report n-type ZnO/p-type BiFeO3 composites as highly efficient visible light nanophotocatalysts prepared via a wet chemical solution method. Based on the measurements of •OH-related fluorescence (FL) spectra, photoluminescence (PL) spectra, photoelectrochemical I-V curves, and electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS), it is demonstrated that the photo-induced charge carrier (electron-hole pairs) in the as-prepared n-type ZnO/p-type BiFeO3 composites with proper amount of the coupled ZnO (10% by mass) exhibits high separation compared with the bare BiFeO3 (BFO) nanoparticles. This is well responsible for the superior visible light photocatalytic performance of the composites for 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) and rhodamine B (RhB) degradation. It is confirmed by means of scavenger test and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS) analysis of the intermediate products that •OH is the pre-dominant oxidant involved in the degradation of 2,4-DCP. A detailed reaction pathway for 2,4-dichlorophenol degradation over the amount-optimized ZnO/BFO composite is proposed mainly based on the LC/MS product ions. This work will provide a feasible route to design and develop BFO-based highly efficient visible light-active photocatalysts for environmental purification and could be extended to other visible light-active semiconductor materials.
Keywords: Charge separation, 2,4-DCP; Photocatalysis; Reaction pathway; Solar energy utilization; n-type ZnO/p-type BiFeO3 composites.