Construction of fish-scale tubular carbon nitride-based heterojunction with boosting charge separation in photocatalytic tetracycline degradation and H2O2 production.

[Display omitted] • Novel fish-scale tubular carbon nitride (FTCN so) was successfully prepared. • FTCN so has abundant structural defects and excellent photocatalytic performance. • The role of trithiocyanuric acid is used to build the skeleton, not for S doping. • The new 1D tubular carbon nitride composite material (Znln 2 S 4 /FTCN so) was constructed. • Znln 2 S 4 /FTCN so has excellent photocatalytic degradation tetracycline and production H 2 O 2 performance. A fish-scale tubular carbon nitride (FTCN so) and its heterojunction ZnIn 2 S 4 /FTCN so were constructed to enhance the ability of photocatalytic tetracycline degradation and H 2 O 2 production under visible light. The photocatalysts were analyzed through a variety of techniques. Firstly, the surface of FTCN so was composed of fish-scale nanoplatelets with abundant structural defects by SEM. Secondly, the results of UV–vis and theoretical calculation proved the improvement of visible light absorption performance of ZnIn 2 S 4 /FTCN so. Thirdly, the electrochemical tests confirmed the ZnIn 2 S 4 /FTCN so effectively inhibited the recombination of photogenerated e−-h+ pairs. Meanwhile, the electronic-structural properties and photocatalytic mechanism were systematically and deeply studied by combining UV–vis, XPS valence band, theoretical calculations and capture experiments of active species in different pH solution. ZnIn 2 S 4 /FTCN so exhibited excellent performance in photocatalytic tetracycline degradation and H 2 O 2 production under visible light due to the special structure and the existence of heterojunction. This work provides guidance for the development and design of new multifunctional carbon nitride-based materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]