S-scheme Ag/ZnO/CeO2 inverse opal photonic crystals with enhanced photocatalytic properties

Construction of S-scheme heterojunctions and increasing the specific surface area are considered effective strategies to enhance photocatalytic performance. In this work, ZnO and ZnO/CeO2 with inverse opal structure were constructed by the high-temperature template removal method. Then a simple UV photoreduction method was used to construct the photocatalysts with Ag/ZnO/CeO2 inverse opal (Ag/ZnO/CeO2 IO). The degradation behavior of the composite for rhodamine B (RhB) was investigated. Specifically, the photodegradation of RhB by Ag/ZnO/CeO2 exhibited good photostability and the best removal efficiency compared with ZnO inverse opal (ZnO IO) and ZnO/CeO2 inverse opal(ZnO/CeO2 IO), which was 2.7 times higher than that of ZnO IO. The synergetic effect of the composite effectively improves the electron adsorption capacity, and the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of Ag nanoparticles enhances its photo availability, thus improving the photocatalytic activity. This work provides a new strategy for ZnO-based composites in degrading wastewater pollution.