A “bottle-around-ship” like method synthesized yolk-shell Ag3PO4@MIL-53(Fe) Z-scheme photocatalysts for enhanced tetracycline removal

A novel yolk-shell Ag3PO4@MIL-53(Fe) Z-scheme photocatalyst was fabricated via a "bottle-around-ship" like method. Experiments on the treatment of tetracycline upon visible light irradiation showed that the as-prepared photocatalyst possessed excellent photocatalytic performance. Experimental results showed that tetracycline removal efficiency of the yolk-shell Ag3PO4@MIL-53(Fe) Z-scheme photocatalyst was almost 3 times higher than that of MIL-53(Fe). The enhanced photocatalytic performance of Ag3PO4@MIL-53(Fe) nanocomposite could be contributed to its higher surface area, better absorption capability, and greater charge separation efficiency. In addition, the H2O2 concentration detection results for Ag3PO4 (154 μmol/L) and Ag3PO4@MIL-53(Fe) (52 μmol/L) indicated that a big part of generated H2O2 on the Ag3PO4 core would be quickly decomposed by the MIL-53(Fe) shell and generated more reactive species through the photo-Fenton-like reaction, which is beneficial for the improvement of photocatalytic performance. This is a promising approach to fabricate yolk-shell structure photocatalyst and a different aspect to design multiple semiconductor composites heterojunction for environmental remediation.