Construction of Z-scheme CuBi2O4/MIL-88A(Fe) heterojunctions with enhanced LED light driven photocatalytic Cr(VI) reduction and antibacterial performance

Constructing Z-scheme heterojunctions with excellent redox ability has become a promising strategy for environmental mitigation. Herein a novel Z-scheme CBO/MIL-88A(Fe) p-n heterojunctions (CBO represents CuBi2O4) with a built-in electric field at the interface was established by a facile ball-milling approach. The optimum heterojunction with 10 % CBO/MIL-88A(Fe) (10 %-CBO/88A) could remediate almost 100 % Cr(VI) within 30 min of LED light illumination, superior to that of other prepared photocatalysts. As for antibacterial, the 10 %-CBO/88A heterojunctions could completely inactivated E. coli and S. aureus within 60 min. Such an improvement in photocatalytic performance was mainly due to efficient light utilization, restrained charge recombination and outstanding redox ability, and the heterojunction provided an excellent stability for five cycles with minor leaching of Fe ions. Besides, a plausible charge transfer mechanism over Z-scheme 10 %-CBO/88A was also revealed according to experimental results. This study presents novel insights into fabricating Z-scheme p-n heterojunctions for the remediation of environmental pollution.