Construction of nanodiamonds/UiO-66-NH2 heterojunction for boosted visible-light photocatalytic degradation of antibiotics

Photocatalytic degradation of antibiotics is one of promising strategies to lessen environmental pollution and ecological damage. Pitifully, it is still challenging to achieve satisfactory photocatalytic degradation performance. Herein, nanodiamonds (NDs) coated on the surface of UiO-66-NH2 octahedrons to form NDs/UiO-66-NH2 heterojunction photocatalyst via a simple solvothermal method. The synthesized NDs/UiO-66-NH2 composite photocatalysts possess decent antibiotic degradation performance under visible light irradiation. Among all the composites, 3% NDs/UiO-66-NH2 composite exhibits the optimal degradation performance, which degraded more than 90% of TC pollutants within 120 min, 8.81 times higher than pristine UiO-66-NH2. The high photocatalytic performance of NDs/UiO-66-NH2 heterojunction is mainly attributed to the following three factors: (i) the introduction of NDs effectively increased the light absorption capacity of UiO-66-NH2; (ii) the Construction of heterojunction enhanced the separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers over UiO-66-NH2; (iii) The enriched functional groups of NDs could further promote the adsorption capacity of UiO-66-NH2. Our work broadens the application of NDs for the construction and synthesis of high-performance and stable semiconductor composite photocatalysts with visible light response in the area of environmental restoration.

Automated summary

Photocatalytic degradation of antibiotics is a promising strategy for reducing environmental pollution. In this study, nanodiamonds (NDs) were coated on the surface of UiO-66-NH2 to form NDs/UiO-66-NH2 heterojunction photocatalyst. The composite photocatalysts exhibited decent antibiotic degradation performance under visible light irradiation, with 3% NDs/UiO-66-NH2 composite showing the best performance. The high photocatalytic performance of the NDs/UiO-66-NH2 heterojunction can be attributed to increased light absorption capacity, enhanced separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers, and improved adsorption capacity. This work expands the application of NDs in the construction of high-performance semiconductor composite photocatalysts for environmental restoration with visible light response.