Construction of Z-scheme BiO/CeO heterojunction for enhanced photocatalytic capacity of TiO NTs.

Photocatalytic technology was recognized to be the effective strategy to overcome the obstacles of environment pollution and energy shortage, and the novel photocatalyst design/construction was the key point for photocatalytic performance improvement. In this paper, the Z-scheme BiO and CeO heterojunction was constructed on TiO nanotube arrays (TiO NTs) by the hydrothermal deposition method. The BiO-CeO cosensitization not only extended the solar absorption region but also accelerated the photoelectron separation and transfer, finally enhanced the photocatalytic property. The photocatalysts exhibited the high RhB/MB photodegradation and Cr(VI) reduction, and the photoelectric conversion and photocatalytic H evolution were also preeminent. The Z-scheme heterojunction construction was recognized to be the reason for the high photoactivity, and O and OH radicals were formed and investigated as the main active species for the dye photodegradation. The work gives the simple method and idea to construct novel ternary Z-scheme heterojunctions with high photocatalytic capacity for environment remediation and new energy development.