Ternary novel TiO2/MgBi2O6/Bi2O3 nanocomposites with n-n-p heterojunctions: Impressive visible-light-triggered photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline

[Display omitted] •TiO2/MgBi2O6/Bi2O3 nanocomposites were designed as visible-light-triggered photocatalysts.•The photocatalyst has n-n-p heterojunctions for impressive segregation of the charge carriers.•Tetracycline degradation constant on the ternary photocatalyst was 46.1-folds larger than TiO2.•The ternary photocatalyst displayed impressive activity in removal of different pollutants. A series of novel ternary TiO2/MgBi2O6/Bi2O3 nanocomposites were synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method. The ternary nanocomposites were characterized by XRD, FESEM, HRTEM, EDX, PL, EIS, Photocurrent, UV–vis DRS, BET, XPS, Raman, and FT-IR analyses. The photocatalytic performance of TiO2 for the degradation of tetracycline antibiotic after combining with MgBi2O6/Bi2O3 was significantly improved, which is 46.1 and 18.5 times higher than pristine TiO2 and MgBi2O6/Bi2O3 photocatalysts, respectively. Furthermore, the ternary photocatalyst efficiently degraded MO, RhB, and MB dye pollutants, which is 22.5, 30.4, and 30.0 as high as TiO2 and 11.2, 14.4, and 17.8 folds larger than MgBi2O6/Bi2O3 photocatalysts, respectively. The photoluminescence and electrochemical analyses confirmed promoted separation and facile transfer of the charges thanks to construction of n-n-p heterojunctions among n-TiO2, n-MgBi2O6, and p-Bi2O3 components and more production of charge carriers due to integration of small band gap MgBi2O6 and Bi2O3 components with wide band gap TiO2.