Fe3O4 mediated Z-scheme BiVO4/Cr2V4O13 strongly coupled nano-heterojunction for rapid degradation of fluoxetine under visible light

Abstract Hybrid heterojunction photocatalysts dramatically improve the pharmaceutical wastewater treatment potential. In this work, we report construction of novel Fe3O4-BiVO4/Cr2V4O13 (FBC) with high interfacial transfer for visible and solar photo-degradation of fluoxetine (FX). Within 60 min of visible exposure, FBC removes 99.2% of FX and rate is ~ 8 times BiVO4. The strongly coupled heterojunction leads high charge separation, interfacial charge transfer which attributes to the exceptional performance. Scavenging experiments and electron spin Resonance (ESR) probe suggest ●OH and ●O2– radicals as dominant species. The band structure and other experiments reveal a Z-scheme effective charge transfer is in action mediated by Fe3O4.