Enhanced Photocatalytic Degradation and Antibacterial Performance by Cu2O/ZIF-8/AgBr Composites Under Visible Light

In this study, double heterojunction Cu 2 O/ZIF-8/AgBr photocatalysts were fabricated through an in situ growth method. The photocatalytic degradation efficiency of the composite photocatalyst for oxytetracycline (OTC), tetracycline hydrochloride (TC-HCl) and tetracycline (TC) is obviously higher than that of the pure Cu 2 O, ZIF-8 and AgBr. The Cu 2 O/ZIF-8/20wtAgBr composite material can effectively inactivate E.coli under visible light. The importance of ·O 2 – and ·OH in the photocatalytic process had been verified in the active species trapping experiment and electron spin resonance spectroscopy (ESR). Through transient photocurrent and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), it could be known that the double type-I heterojunction system significantly improved the efficiency of charge transfer and separation. The novel Cu 2 O/ZIF-8/20wtAgBr composite material is expected to become a promising candidate photocatalyst for environmental applications. Graphical Abstract Novel Cu 2 O/ZIF-8/AgBr composites were fabricated to achieve efficient antibiotics degradation and effective E.coli inactivation under visiable light.