Plasmonic Au Nanoparticles/KCa2Nb3O10 nanosheets 0D/2D heterojunctions with enhanced photocatalytic activity towards the degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride

Exploration of an effective strategy to enhance the visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity of wide band gap metal oxide semiconductors is of great importance. In this work, plasmonic Au nanoparticles/KCa2Nb3O10 nanosheets 0D/2D heterojunctions were constructed by a facile precipitation-calcination process. In these heterojunctions, Au nanoparticles not only act a photosensitizer to harvest the visible light but also assist in the charge separation, therefore enhancing the visible light photocatalytic activity. The optimized Au/KCa2Nb3O10 0D/2D plasmonic heterojunction showed a remarkable photocatalytic activity towards the degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride. The photocatalytic activity of the optimized 2%-Au/KCNO heterojunction is 3.9 times that of bare KCa2Nb3O10. This work provides an alternative approach to improve the light utilization efficiency and photocatalytic activity of KCa2Nb3O10 semiconductor for photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutant. (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.