Enhanced visible light induced photocatalytic degradation of oxytetracycline hydrochloride by n-ZnO/p-NiO composite

A series of porous n-ZnO/p-NiO with different Ni/Zn mass ratios photocatalysts were synthesized by a facile hydrothermal and calcination method. XRD, SEM, TEM, BET, XPS, FTIR, UV-vis analytical methods were used to characterize the composites. The results showed that, the composite material with a Ni/Zn mass ratio of 0.3 had a better photocatalytic effect, decomposing 79% of OTC-HCl in only 2 h. The increased photocatalytic activity might be attributed to the heterojunctions between n-ZnO and p-NiO. Notably, the photocatalysts had excellent stability. The scavenging experiments showed that & BULL;O2  was the main active species in the photocatalytic degradation process.