Hydrochloric acid-mediated synthesis of ZnFe2O4 small particle decorated one-dimensional Perylene Diimide S-scheme heterojunction with excellent photocatalytic ability

The recyclable and stable ZnFe 2 O 4 small particle decorated one-dimensional perylene diimide (PDI) S-scheme heterojunction (1D PDI/ZnFe 2 O 4 ) is prepared by the hydrochloric acid-mediated (HCl-mediated) strategy, interestingly, the morphology of the 1D PDI/ZnFe 2 O 4 can also be effectively regulated by HCl-mediated process, the existence of HCl can regulate PDI into a uniform rod structure, while the co-existence of HCl and PDI can limit ZnFe 2 O 4 to become the uniform small particles. More importantly, based on the 1D rod structure of PDI and the small size effect of ZnFe 2 O 4 , carriers can migrate to the surface more easily, which can improve the photocatalytic activity. Meanwhile, due to the appropriate energy level structure, the S-scheme heterojunction structure is formed between PDI and ZnFe 2 O 4 , which eliminates meaningless photo-generated charge carriers through recombination and introduces strong redox to further enhance the photodegradation effect, thereby, 1D PDI/ZnFe 2 O 4 exhibits excellent photocatalytic ability, under the visible light irradiation, the degradation rate of tetracycline (TC) with 1D PDI/ZnFe 2 O 4 (66.67%) is 9.18 times that with PDI (7.26%) and 9.73 times that with ZnFe 2 O 4 (6.85%). This work proposes new ideas for the assembly of magnetic organic-inorganic S-scheme heterojunction photocatalysts.