Synthesis and characterization of ZnGa2O4 composites and its photocatalytic properties for energy applications

A new S-scheme heterojunction of 1D ZnGa2O4/ZnO nanofiber for efficient photocatalytic degradation of TC-HCl

One-dimensional shaped ZnGa₂O₄, ZnO and ZnGa₂O₄/ZnO nanofibers were successfully prepared by electrostatic spinning technique and the photocatalytic degradation performance of tetracycline hydrochloride (TC-HCl) were studied. It was found that the S-scheme heterojunction formed in the ZnGa₂O₄/ZnO could greatly reduce the recombination of the photogenerated carriers and therefore improve the photocatalytic performance. By optimizing the ratio of the ZnGa₂O₄ and ZnO, the largest degradation rate could reach 0.0573 min^-1, which was 20 times of the self-degradation rate of TC-HCl. It was verified that the h⁺ played the key role in the reactive groups for the high performance decomposition of TC-HCl by capture experiments. This work provides a new method for the highly efficient photocatalytic degradation of TC-HCl.