Synthesis of novel ternary heterogeneous anatase-TiO (B) biphase nanowires/BiOI composite photocatalysts for the highly efficient degradation of acetaminophen under visible light irradiation.

BiOI loaded anatase-TiO (B) biphase nanowires composite photocatalysts were fabricated by an in situ calcination method and exhibited outstanding photocatalytic activity. The microstructure, optical performance and band structure of the composite photocatalysts were investigated by relevant characterizations. The results demonstrated the successful formation of heterojunction between anatase-TiO (B) biphase nanowires and BiOI, which integrated the advantages of homojunction and heterojunction. Therefore, it definitely improved separation efficiency of photo-induced electron-holes because of the formation of multi-junctions. In order to test the enhanced photocatalytic activity, acetaminophen was chosen as target pollutant. The sample with 67% BiOI (TiO-BiOI-3) presented the highest photocatalytic activity on the degradation of acetaminophen and its reaction apparent rate constant was 10 and 25 times as that of BiOI and TiO biphase nanowires, respectively. Through trapping experiments and LC-MS/MS analysis, OH was proved to be the key active specie during the photocatalytic process of acetaminophen degradation. Meanwhile a possible degradation pathway was proposed based on the detected intermediate products.