Recently, Zhou Saipeng, the undergraduate majoring in Chemical Engineering and Technology of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, HENU, has made important progress in building a Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalytic system. His related research results and progress are "ultra high performance visible light photodegradation enabled by direct Z-scheme AgI/(Na, F)-C3N4 composites "was published in the journal Composites Part B: Engineering in the field of composite materials (Zone 1, Chinese Academy of Sciences, TOP, IF=9.078). Dr. YU Xin, Professor MA Xinqi and Professor ZHAO Junwei of our school are the co-corresponding authors.

Fig. 1 Visible light photocatalytic mechanism and activity of composites.

Constructing Z-scheme heterojunction composites is one of the effective means to improve charge separation and photocatalytic activity. In recent years, it has attracted extensive attention and research in the field of energy and environmental photocatalysis. In this paper, the Z-scheme photocatalytic system is used to enhance the charge separation and maintain the advantages of high oxidation ability, and combined with the strategy of element doping, the significantly improved charge separation characteristics and catalytic oxidation performance of AgI/(Na, F)-CN composites are realized. It is exciting that the composite can realize the complete catalytic oxidation degradation and transformation of high concentration antibiotic wastewater under visible light irradiation for a few minutes. It is expected to be used for the purification and treatment of refractory emerging organic pollutants such as highly toxic pharmaceutical wastewater in the future.

This research work has been supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Rroject of Henan Province, the Scientific and Technological Innovation Team of Colleges and Universities in Henan Province, China Postdoctoral Fund, Henan Postdoctoral Fund, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program for College Students of Henan University, and the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, strong support from Henan Waste Recycling Engineering Technology Research Center and Henan Key Laboratory of Polyacid Chemistry.

Paper link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359836821005783