Fabrication of Z-Scheme CeVO4/BiVO4 Heterojunction and Its Enhanced Photocatalytic Degradation of NFX

Abstract

In this paper, BiVO4/CeVO4 composites were synthesized by hydrothermal method for photodegradation of norfloxacin (NFX) under visible light irradiation. The structure, morphologies, and optical properties of as-prepared samples were studied with XRD, SEM, BET, DRS, PL, XPS, EIS, and TPR. The results of the photocatalytic experiments demonstrated that the BiVO4/CeVO4 composites had more degradation performance of NFX compared with pure BiVO4 or CeVO4, which was attributed to the increased absorbance intensity of visible light, the reduced carrier coincidence rate, and the improved charge separation efficiency. Furthermore, the possible mechanism of the NFX degradation on BiVO4/CeVO4 composites under visible light irradiation was proposed according to the photocatalytic activity and free radicals trapping experiments.