Owing to their significant potential in facilitating the separation and transfer of photogenerated carriers, as well as their strong photoredox capability, photocatalytic materials based on S-scheme heterojunctions represent a promising technology for simultaneously addressing bacterial infections and antibiotic-contaminated wastewater treatment. Herein, via edge engineering, a novel 2D/2D edge-on BiOCl/Bi2MoO6 S-scheme heterojunction is designed and synthesized via an in situ secondary solvothermal treatment. This structure enables direct contact between their respective facets, which accumulate photogenerated electrons and photogenerated holes. Under visible-light irradiation (λ ≥ 420 nm), the heterojunction material achieves 95% degradation of tetracycline within 60 min, which is 5.8 and 8.7 times higher than that of pure BiOCl and Bi2MoO6, respectively. Moreover, the composite exhibits good biocompatibility and achieves a high-efficiency photocatalytic sterilization rate of 98.6% against Escherichia coli within 30 min. Strong evidence for the construction of the edge-on S-scheme heterojunction is confirmed by photoirradiated Kelvin probe measurement, theoretical calculations, and in situ irradiated X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, which greatly facilitate the transfer path of photocarriers by directly connecting depletion layer via edge engineering. This work provides a feasible strategy for fabricating visible-light-driven S-scheme heterojunction photocatalysts with excellent photocatalytic activity and biosafety for reducing the release and abuse of antibiotics.
Yin et al. (Mon,) studied this question.