Modification strategies of BiOI-based visible-light photocatalysts and their efficacy on decomposition of tetracycline antibiotics in water

Photocatalysis is regarded as a potent alternative to conventional treatment methods with low removal efficiency (e.g., activated sludge process) against refractory/recalcitrant antibiotics in wastewater. Here, the potential utility of bismuth oxyiodide (BiOI)-based materials has been evaluated as visible-light–driven photocatalysts (bandgap energy < 2.0 eV) with unique optical structure for the enhanced treatment of tetracyclines (TCs) as a representative antibiotic product. The effects of key modification strategies (e.g., elemental doping and heterojunction formation) on the photocatalytic activity of BiOI-based photocatalysts are assessed against TCs in terms of the key performance metrics such as quantum efficiency (QE) and space-time yield (STY). This review also highlights the challenges and promising opportunities for the photocatalytic application of BiO-based materials against TCs in real effluents. Accordingly, zinc-doped BiOI is recognized to have the maximum efficiency with QE of 2.95 × 10−5 molecules photon−1 and STY of 2.95 × 10−7 molecules photon−1 mg−1. This review is expected to help deepen the exploration path to the construction of efficient BiOI-based systems based on their performance evaluation along with the discussions on their perspectives.