Construction of a Z-scheme WO3/InVO4 heterojunction for enhanced tetracycline photodegradation efficiency

The substantial presence of antibiotics in aquatic environments remains a critical environmental issue that needs to be urgently addressed. In this study, a Z-scheme WO₃/InVO₄ heterojunction photocatalyst was constructed, and it exhibited superior performance for the degradation of antibiotics in contaminated water. The degradation efficiency of the WO₃/InVO₄ heterojunction for tetracycline (TC) was 11.2 and 1.9 times higher than those of pristine WO₃ and pristine InVO₄, respectively, and the remarkable performance could be maintained after several cycles, which can be ascribed to the stable Z-scheme heterostructure, leading to the efficient transfer and separation of photoinduced electrons and holes. Combined with the results of the active species trapping experiments and EPR, a possible photocatalytic mechanism was proposed, in which ˙O₂⁻ radicals were the dominating active species while photogenerated holes (h⁺) and ˙OH offered auxiliary effects for the degradation of TC. This work provides a valuable strategy for developing novel Z-scheme heterostructures for the remediation of antibiotic wastewater.