Fabrication of Ag/AgCl/ZnFe2O4 composites with enhanced photocatalytic activity for pollutant degradation and E. coli disinfection

The Ag/AgCl/ZnFe2O4 photocatalysts were fabricated through a hydrothermal method. The structure and composition of the Ag/AgCl/ZnFe2O4 photocatalysts were confirmed by XRD, SEM, XPS, UV-vis. The rhodamine B (RhB) and the endocrine-disrupting chemical bisphenol A (BPA) were selected as the target pollutants to evaluate the photocatalytic degradation ability. The degradation efficiency of the optimized molar ratios of Ag/AgCl/ZnFe2O4 samples was about 1.47 times as high as that of Ag/AgCl in degrading RhB and about 2.3 times compared to that of Ag/AgCl in degrading BPA. Meanwhile, the Ag/AgCl/ZnFe2O4 also displayed much higher antibacterial ability than the Ag/AgCl. The photocurrent, EIS, PL analysis indicated that the enhanced electronhole pair separation efficiency and better electron transfer performance of the composite leading to the higher degradation efficiency. The cycle experiment result indicated that the Ag/AgCl/ZnFe2O4 had good photocatalytic stability. Based on the ESR and trapping experiments results, a possible photocatalytic mechanism was proposed. The Ag/AgCl/ZnFe2O4 composites showed potential application in purifying the water.