Enhanced photocatalytic degradation of sulfamethoxazole by stable hierarchical Fe2O3/Co3O4 heterojunction on nickel foam

A facile approach was successfully employed to prepare Fe2O3/Co3O4 nanosheet arrays on nickel foams (Fe2O3/Co3O4 @NF), which owned such advantages as narrow band gap energies and high separation rate of photoexcited electron-hole pairs. The combination of Fe2O3 and Co3O4 dramatically enhanced the photocatalytic activity towards sulfamethoxazole (SMZ) degradation, with the highest catalytic efficiency of k = 0.0538 min(-1), which was much higher than that of Fe2O3 @NF (0.0098 min(-1)) and Co3O4 @NF (0.0094 min(-1)). The introduction of Ni foam could not only act as the support to anchor photocatalyst, but also work as the electron mediator to promote the transition of electron-hole pairs. Reactive species trapping experiments combined with electron paramagnetic resonance analysis confirmed O-center dot(2)- was primarily responsible for SMZ degradation. Furthermore, Fe2O3/Co3O4 @NF was effective and almost unaffected by inorganic cations and anions in aqueous solution. This study could provide a facile and promising path for the construction of self-supported metal oxide-based heterojunction with high efficiency and strong stability. (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

Automated summary

A facile approach was employed to prepare Fe2O3/Co3O4 nanosheet arrays on nickel foams, exhibiting high efficiency in photocatalytic degradation of SMZ. The introduction of Ni foam helped with electron transfer, and Fe2O3/Co3O4 @NF showed effective and stable catalytic performance for SMZ.