Synthesis of near-infrared-activated YF3:Yb3+, Tm3+/Bi2MoO6 upconversion photocatalytic materials for the photocatalytic degradation of antibiotics based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer

Photocatalytic degradation of pollutants, an ecofriendly technology, is widely used for environmental remediation. However, the design and synthesis of photocatalytic materials for near-infrared light photocatalysis are challenging. In this study, an upconversion photocatalyst with fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), YF3:Yb3+, Tm3+/Bi2MoO6 (YFYT/BMO), was developed and synthesised based on rare-earth upconversion luminescence. YFYT converted near-infrared (NIR) light into blue–violet light via upconversion. The rapid decay of the fluorescence lifetime of YFYT/BMO at 478 nm (Tm3+:1G4-3H6) verified that FRET efficiently occurred between YFYT and BMO. The degradation rate of tetracycline by YFYT/BMO was 2.6 times higher than that by BMO under NIR light. A great enhancement of 42.1% on the tetracycline degradation efficiency was achieved in YFYT/BMO compared with pure BMO within 90 min of visible-NIR irradiation. This study provides a basis for developing and designing rare-earth upconversion photocatalytic materials that can achieve excellent photocatalytic degradation of antibiotics using NIR light for environmental remediation.