Innovative design of Bi4O5l2/Bi7O9I3-C composites for reinforced piezophotocatalytic treatment of color and colorless pollutants under LED radiation and ultrasonic power

This work introduces a novel fabrication of Bi₄O₅l₂/Bi₇O₉I₃-C composites via the ultrasonic-assisted wet impregnation strategy. Robust characterizations, such as XRD, FTIR, SEM, TEM, BET, UV–Vis DRS, PL, and EIS, were employed to identify the ternary heterojunction and its components. Developing Bi₄O₅l₂/Bi₇O₉I₃-C heterojunction could significantly boost piezoelectric and photocatalytic properties. The light utilization was expanded by incorporating carbon nanoparticles into Bi₄O₅l₂/Bi₇O₉I₃, which promotes electrical conductivity and narrows the band gap of composites. The piezocatalytic, photocatalytic, and piezophotocatalytic activity of Bi₄O₅l₂/Bi₇O₉I₃-C was tested for the degradation of color and colorless organic pollutants, like crystal violet (CV), malachite green (MG), tetracycline (TC), and levofloxacin (LFX). The Bi₄O₅l₂/Bi₇O₉I₃-C showed powerful piezophotocatalytic treatment in a short time (40 min) with removal efficiencies of 97.5 %, 100 %, 91.3 %, and 94.4 % against CV, MG, TC, and LFX, respectively. The first-order kinetics revealed the superiority of piezophotocatalytic efforts of Bi₄O₅l₂/Bi₇O₉I₃-C, which is 5.36 and 1.67 times greater than sole piezocatalytic and photocatalytic, respectively. The integrated work of piezoelectric force, light irradiation, and Z-scheme charge mode exhibited rapid charge separation, boosted charge generation, and positive valence band potential, resulting in enhanced piezophotocatalytic performance. Ultimately, our study encourages the employment of Bi-based catalysts in piezophotocatalytic fields to improve the degradation efficiency and reduce the pollutant degradation time.