The semiconductor-insulator heterostructure, characterized by outstanding economic-efficiency and catalytic activity, represents a promising photocatalyst for practical pollutants degradation. However, achieving energy band matching between semiconductors and insulators remains a challenge. In this study, we meticulously designed and synthesized a band-matched semiconductor-insulator photocatalysts (AgI-BaCO), leveraging the nucleation of ultrafine AgI nanoparticles on BaCO surface. The finely crafted heterostructure notably enhanced degradation efficiency of tetracycline over both pure AgI and BaCO, demonstrating a remarkable pseudo-first-order kinetic rate constant that surpassed them by 27.2 and 33.5 times, respectively. The density functional theory calculations uncovered that the intense covalent interaction between AgI and BaCO established a specific channel for interfacial charge carriers. The generated CO radicals as the main active species markedly expedited the removal of antibiotics. Furthermore, the catalysts demonstrated robust activity in real wastewater and surface water. This work supplies a novel reference for constructing insulator-based photocatalysts and elucidates its potential application in actual aquatic environments.

中文翻译：

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碳酸盐自由基介导地球丰富的 BaCO3 系统上抗生素的催化降解：性能、机制和计算


半导体-绝缘体异质结构具有突出的经济效率和催化活性，是一种有前景的实际污染物降解光催化剂。然而，实现半导体和绝缘体之间的能带匹配仍然是一个挑战。在这项研究中，我们利用超细AgI纳米颗粒在BaCO表面的成核作用，精心设计并合成了能带匹配的半导体绝缘体光催化剂（AgI-BaCO）。与纯 AgI 和 BaCO 相比，精心设计的异质结构显着提高了四环素的降解效率，表现出显着的伪一级动力学速率常数，分别超过它们的 27.2 和 33.5 倍。密度泛函理论计算发现，AgI 和 BaCO 之间强烈的共价相互作用为界面载流子建立了特定的通道。产生的CO自由基作为主要活性物质，显着加速了抗生素的去除。此外，催化剂在实际废水和地表水中表现出强大的活性。这项工作为构建基于绝缘体的光催化剂提供了新的参考，并阐明了其在实际水生环境中的潜在应用。