Facet-induced charge transfer and photocatalytic performance of an S-scheme hybrid heterojunction composed of porous g-C3N4 nanosheets and WO3 nanorods with exposed high-energy (0 0 1) facets

• A WO AT @PCN hybrid of g-C 3 N 4 and WO 3 with exposed (001) facets was developed. • The WO AT @PCN hybrid affords marked activity for toxic pharmaceuticals degradation. • The beneficial properties of WO AT and S-scheme charge transfer contributed to high activity. • The WO AT @PCN hybrid exhibited high stability and recyclability over consecutive test runs. • TOC results demonstrated the effective mineralization of the pollutants by the hybrid catalyst. Crystal facet engineering has been demonstrated to be a flexible technique that significantly improves photocatalyst performance by promoting interfacial charge transfer and separation. In this study, we systematically coupled porous polymeric carbon nitride nanosheets (PCN) and WO 3 nanorods with exposed (001) facets (WO AT ) to fabricate a WO AT @PCN hybrid photocatalyst with improved photocatalytic properties. Importantly, the fabricated WO AT @PCN hybrid catalyst demonstrated significantly enhanced performance for the degradation of oxytetracycline and naproxen pollutants under visible light compared to PCN, WO AT , and WO ST with different exposed facets. Furthermore, the hybrid catalyst demonstrated excellent stability and reusability across multiple test runs. The remarkable photodegradation performance of the hybrid catalyst is primarily attributable to the intrinsically high surface area and charge separation properties of the (001) facets of WO AT , enhanced visible light absorption, and S-scheme charge transfer at the interface, promoting photoexcited charge separation and enhancing the redox capabilities of the separated photoexcited electrons and holes. In addition, total organic carbon (TOC) analysis confirmed the efficacy of mineralization, while liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) studies revealed the potential degradation pathways of sample pollutants. This study elucidates the systematic design of hybrid catalysts using crystal facet engineering for various photocatalytic applications.