Molten salt-assisted synthesis of Ce4O7/Bi4MoO9 heterojunction photocatalysts for Photo-Fenton degradation of tetracycline: Enhanced mechanism, degradation pathway and products toxicity assessment

Novel CuFe2O4@C3N4 core-shell photocatalysts were fabricated through a self-assembly method and characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and Uv-vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy. The photocatalytic performances of the CuFe2O4@C3N4 catalysts were evaluated in photo Fenton-like discoloration of Orange II dye using H2O2 as an oxidant under visible-light irradiation (λ>420 nm). It was found the CuFe2O4@C3N4 hybrid (mass ratio of CuFe2O4/g-C3N4 at 2:1) exhibits a superior activity as compared with single component of CuFe2O4 or g-C3N4 and the mixture of g-C3N4 and CuFe2O4, due to the elevation of the separation efficiency of photoinduced electron-hole pairs, resulted from the heterojunction between the interfaces of g-C3N4 and CuFe2O4. The quenching tests of different scavengers displayed that O2(•-), OH and h(+) are responsible for the Orange II decolorization. In addition, the effects of initial concentration of the dye contaminant (0.014-0.140 mM), different anions (Cl(-), SO4(2-), NO3(-), CH3COO(-) and HCO3(-)) and temperature (15-65 °C) in photoreaction were also investigated. The CuFe2O4@C3N4 sample exhibited stable performance without obvious loss of catalytic activity after five successive runs, showing a promising application for the photo-oxidative degradation of environmental contaminants.