Construction of visible-light driven AgVO3/BiOBr p-n heterojunction for improving visible-light photocatalytic performance

•The p-n heterojunction AgVO3/BiOBr photocatalysts were successfully synthesized.•The composite photocatalysts showed excellent photocatalytic activity and reusability.•The electron/hole pair recombination rate of the composite photocatalysts was significantly reduced. This work is devoted to the degradation of organic pollutants in wastewater by visible light, prepared BiOBr through hydrothermal method, and successfully obtained AgVO3/BiOBr p-n heterojunction photocatalyst by loading AgVO3 on its surface using in situ deposition method. This composite catalyst has a wider visible absorption domain, lower photogenerated electron/hole pair recombination rate and lower forbidden band width compared with BiOBr, with significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity. The degradation rate of MB by the composite catalyst can reach 98.9 % within 1 h under visible light irradiation, and its reaction rate constant is 139.53 times higher than that of pure BiOBr.