Fabrication of ternary UiO-66(Ce)/Ag/BiOBr heterojunction for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of ketoprofen via effective electron transfer process: Pathways, DFT calculation and mechanism

Photocatalytic oxidation technique is considered as one of the most prospective approaches to solve the problem of environmental pollution. Herein, the novel ternary nanocomposite UiO-66(Ce)/Ag/BiOBr was fabricated via simple synthetic strategy. The obtained UiO-66(Ce)/Ag/BiOBr exhibited an excellent performance and photocatalytic efficiency of ketoprofen reached 93.5% after 180 min illumination. The ·OH and ·O2- were main active species and play an important role during the photocatalytic reaction. Furthermore, intermediate products and degradation pathways of ketoprofen were analyzed based on the 3D-EEM, DFT calculation and LC-MS. The possible reaction mechanism was proposed as follows: (1) the successful construction of heterojunction broadened the light absorption range to the visible light region; (2) the design of Ce-based MOFs provided more chances for electron transfer due to the Ce4+/Ce3+ cycling; (3) the combination of plasmon resonance effect, Schottky junction and effect of Ag bridge was an important strategy to accelerate charge transfer and improve photocatalytic efficiency.