Preparation of a Type II CeO2/Bi2O2CO3 Heterojunction Photocatalyst and its Efficient Degradation of Antibiotic

Abstract In this paper, a type II CeO 2 /Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 heterojunction composite photocatalytic material with different proportions was synthesized. The structure, morphology, and photocatalytic properties of CeO 2 /Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 were analyzed by XRD, SEM, and XPS. SEM showed that CeO 2 and Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 are closely combined, which is conducive to carrier migration and separation and improves the stability of the material. The light absorption properties of CeO 2 /Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 composites were tested by UV‐vis DRS. The photocatalytic performance of the CeO 2 /Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 composite system was studied with chlortetracycline hydrochloride as the target material. The results showed that under the conditions of 12.5 % CeO 2 , 0.5 g/L catalyst, and 20 mg/L chlortetracycline hydrochloride, the photocatalytic performance of the composite system was the highest, reaching 95.2 %. Moreover, the electrochemical properties of CeO 2 and Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 were tested and their potential, conduction band, and valence band values were obtained. At the same time, we propose the mechanism of type II electron transfer in CeO 2 /Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 composites.