Metal-free photocatalyst of few-layer phosphorene with excellent activity under different light conditions

Abstract Herein, liquid exfoliation method was employed to prepare metal-free photocatalyst of few-layer phosphorene using black phosphorus as the precursor and its physicochemical properties were systematically characterized. The photocatalytic degradation experiments show that phosphorene exhibits more excellent photocatalytic activity toward tetracycline (TC) degradation under UV light irradiation with deoxidation. Moreover, the photodegradation rate constant of TC during the first 15 min of reaction is 0.2004 min-1, which is 4.61 times of that under the pure UV light irradiation. Furthermore, the catalytic mechanism of phosphorene toward TC degradation was proposed and the excellent photocatalytic performance is mainly contributed to the efficient separation of photogenerated h+ and e-.