Developing high-efficiency and stable visible-light-driven (VLD) photocatalysts for removal of toxic antibiotics is still a huge challenge at present. Herein, a novel CdS/Bi₂MoO₆ heterojunction with CdS nanoparticles decorated Bi₂MoO₆ microspheres has been obtained by a simple solvothermal-precipitation-calcination method. 1.0CdS/Bi₂MoO₆ has stronger light absorption ability and highest photocatalytic activity with levofloxacin (LEV) degradation efficiency improving 6.2 or 12.6 times compared to pristine CdS or Bi₂MoO₆. CdS/Bi₂MoO₆ is very stable during cycling tests, and no appreciable activity decline and microstructural changes are observed. Results signify that the introduction of CdS could enhance the light absorption ability and dramatically boost the separation of charge carriers, leading to the excellent photocatalytic performance of the heterojunction. This work demonstrates that flower-like CdS/ Bi₂MoO₆ is an excellent photocatalyst for the efficient removal of the LEV antibiotic.

Novel 3D flower-like Ag/AgCl/BiOCOOH ternary heterojunction photocatalysts were fabricated by the solvothermal and in-situ precipitation methods, followed by light reduction treatment. The Ag/AgCl nanoparticles were homogeneously distributed on 3D BiOCOOH microspheres. These obtained catalysts were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS), and photoluminescence (PL). As expected, they exhibited extraordinary photocatalytic capabilities for the elimination of rhodamine B (RhB) and ciprofloxacin (CIP) under simulated sunlight, the results revealed that the Ag/AgCl/BiOCH-3 with 20 wt.% of Ag/AgCl possessed the maximum activity, and the rate constant for the RhB degradation reached up to 0.1353 min⁻¹, which was about 16.5 or 12.2 times that of bare BiOCOOH or Ag/AgCl. The PL characterization further verified that Ag/AgCl/BiOCOOH heterojunctions were endowed with the effective separation of photogenerated carriers. The excellent photocatalytic ability of Ag/AgCl/BiOCOOH could be credited to the synergistic interactions between Ag/AgCl and BiOCOOH, which not only substantially widened the light absorption, but also evidently hindered the charge recombination. The trapping experiments revealed that the dominant reactive species in RhB removal were h⁺, •OH, and •O₂⁻ species. In addition, Ag/AgCl/BiOCOOH was quite stable and easily recyclable after multiple cycles. The above results imply that the 3D flower-like Ag/AgCl/BiOCOOH ternary heterojunction photocatalyst holds promising prospects in treating industrial wastewater.

The development of excellent full-spectrum photocatalysts is of vital significance to its practical application in environmental remediation. Herein, flower-like Ag₂CO₃/BiOCOOH type I heterostructures were prepared via a facile method and exhibited powerful photocatalytic activity by removing various toxic pollutants (rhodamine B, methyl blue, and tetracycline hydrochloride) under simulated sunlight irradiation. The boosted photocatalytic performance is attributed to the expanded range of the absorption spectrum and alleviated separation rate of the photo-induced electrons and holes. The photoluminescence spectra and trapping experiment were applied to clarify the photocatalytic reaction mechanism of Ag₂CO₃/BiOCOOH. The holes and •O₂⁻ were detected as the dominant reactive species involved in pollutant degradation. This work provides a novel full-spectrum-driven photocatalyst of Ag₂CO₃/BiOCOOH, which could effectively degrade toxic pollutants under simulated sunlight.

Highly dispersed CuO/SiO₂ catalysts were successfully synthesized by a green process of ball milling (BM) under solvent-free and room temperature conditions. The structural evolution of CuO/SiO₂ catalysts prepared by BM was elucidated by TG-DSC, XRD, FT-IR, and XPS characterizations. We found that the copper acetate precursor was dispersed over the layer of copper phyllosilicate which was formed by reacting between the copper acetate precursor and the silica support during the BM process. The copper phyllosilicate layer over the support might play an important role in the stabilization of the CuO cluster (<2 nm) during thermal pretreatment. The 15% CuO/SiO₂ catalyst exhibited the best catalytic activity for the catalytic combustion of ethyl acetate as it owned a highest active surface area of CuO among the CuO/SiO₂ catalysts with different copper loadings.