Z-Scheme Cuwo4/Cubi2o4 Architectures with Oxygen Vacancies-Mediated Electron Transfer Channel for Enhanced Catalytic Activity Towards Pharmacological Active Compounds Photodegradation

Photocatalytic degradation is a promising means to restore the ever-growing pharmacological active compounds (PHACs) contamination in the water environment. Herein, the oxygen vacancies (OVs) modulated Z-scheme CuWO4/CuBi2O4 hybrid systems were fabricated at thermal treatment by in-situ loading CuWO4 nanoparticles with OVs on CuBi2O4 surface. The as-formed hybrid samples exhibit boosted photodegradation ability to remove PHACs under visible light irradiation. Significantly, an optimized 10 wt% CuWO4/CuBi2O4 sample was found to exhibit superior catalytic activity and excellent recycling stability towards PHACs photodegradation. Possible degradation paths towards PHACs removal over CuWO4/CuBi2O4 hybrid systems were proposed. The enhancement of photocatalytic performance could be attributable to the efficient separation and transfer of photoformed charge pairs through the formed Z-scheme system. Such Z-scheme mechanism was systematically analyzed by trapping experiments of active species, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), electron spin resonance (ESR), and the photo-depositions of noble metal. This work could open up a new avenue for developing highly efficient Z-scheme photocatalytic systems toward PHACs photodegradation