Self-grown oxygen vacancies-rich CeO2/BiOBr Z-scheme heterojunction decorated with rGO as charge transfer channel for enhanced photocatalytic oxidation of elemental mercury

Oxygen vacancy-rich CeO2/BiOBr was prepared via solvothermal method combined with rGO to design a Z-scheme heterojunction, which was used for photocatalytic oxidation of gaseous elemental mercury. The Z-scheme heterojunction constructed by interface engineering significantly promotes charge carriers transfer at the interface. Moreover, the surface oxygen vacancies and Ce3+/Ce4+ redox centers tend to capture electrons to accelerate the Z-scheme path of charge transfer to maintain efficient redox performance and facilitate molecular oxygen activation to boost photocatalytic removal of Hg0. The collaboration of oxygen vacancies, Ce3+/Ce4+ and heterojunction enhances the photocatalytic oxidation activity, which achieves a removal efficiency of 76.53%, which is 1.29 times that of BiOBr and 1.91 times that of CeO2. The effect of actual flue gas components (SO2, NO and HCl) on the performance of photocatalytic Hg0 removal was further investigated. Combined with DFT theoretical calculations, the photocatalytic reaction mechanism of Z-scheme heterojunction with oxygen vacancies-rich was proposed. It provides a feasible strategy for the development of high-efficiency Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalytic system for environmental purification.