Optimization of Electron Transport Pathway: A Novel Strategy to Solve the Photocorrosion of Ag-Based Photocatalysts.

Although Ag-containing photocatalysts exhibit excellent photocatalytic ability, they present great challenges owing to their photocorrosion and ease of reduction. Herein, an electron acceptor platform of Ag 2 O/La(OH) 3 /polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fiber was constructed using a heterojunction strategy and electrospinning technology to develop a novel photocatalytic membrane with a redesigned electron transport pathway. Computational and experimental results demonstrate that the optimized electron transport pathway included intercrystal electron transfer induced by the La-O bond between Ag 2 O and La(OH) 3 as well as electron transfer between the catalyst crystal and electrophilic PAN membrane interface. In addition, the photocatalytic performance of the Ag 2 O/La(OH) 3 membrane for tetracycline (TC) removal was still above 97% after five photocatalytic reaction cycles. Furthermore, the carrier life was greatly extended. Mechanistic study revealed that photogenerated holes on the Ag 2 O/La(OH) 3 membrane were the main reactive species in TC degradation. Overall, this study proposes a novel electron transport pathway strategy that effectively solves the problems of photocatalyst photocorrosion and structural instability.