Facile Synthesis of Z-Scheme Fe-nPPy/BiOI Nanocomposite for Enhanced Visible Light Driven Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract In this work, conducting polymer (CP) and bismuth oxyiodide (BiOI) based Z-scheme nanocomposite photocatalysts were prepared at room temperature. The nanocomposite formation with intimate interfaces were confirmed by advanced characterization techniques. In comparison to pure BiOI and Fe-nPPy, the hybrid nanocomposite, Fe-nPPy/BiOI showed significant enhancement in photocatalytic degradation of crystal violet (CV) dye when exposed to a visible light source. The photocatalyst was versatile for photocatalytic environment remediation as it could degrade pharmaceutical pollutant tetracycline (TC) also. The proper alignment of band edge potential and better interfacial contact between Fe-nPPy and BiOI, which reduce charge recombination in the nanocomposite and enable their better utilisation for the photocatalytic degradation reaction, were attributed to the better photocatalytic performance of the Fe-nPPy/BiOI nanocomposite. Further, the photogenerated electrons were acting as the primary reactive species responsible for degradation process, as per trapping experiments.