Enhanced photocatalytic performance of Fe-doped AgBr for organic contaminants degradation: The role of doping and mechanism insights

•Fe cations were successfully introduced into AgBr lattice.•The Fe-doped AgBr photocatalyst exhibited excellent photocatalytic performance.•Introducing Fe accelerated charge separation and transfer in AgBr microspheres.•The charge distribution of samples was explored by DFT.•·O2- was the main active species in the photocatalytic process. In this work, a novel Fe-doped AgBr microsphere photocatalyst was synthesized. The analysis of XRD, XPS, ICP and SEM distinctly demonstrated that the Fe ions were successfully doped into AgBr lattice. Under simulated solar light, the photocatalytic performance of organic contaminants rhodamine B (RhB) and ciprofloxacin (CIP) was considerably improved by Fe-doped AgBr. Notably, FA-3 (the molar ratio of Fe/Ag was 0.18 %), as the optimal photocatalyst, degraded nearly 100 % of RhB within 40 min, while AgBr only degraded 35 % of RhB. Moreover, the sample performed significantly enhanced mineralization ability, excellent degradation performance under different initial PH conditions, and stable photocatalytic ability after three cycles. Doping Fe ions modified the band structure of AgBr, introduced impurity levels to provide new electron transfer channels, and promoted the charge separation and transfer in AgBr semiconductors. This work provides an idea for the efficient degradation of organic pollutants by doping metal cations modified semiconductor photocatalysts. [Display omitted]