A Composite Photocatalytic Material Featuring a Turbine-like Nanocrystalline Array Achieves a “Full-Chain” Enhancement from Light Capture to Light Utilization

The efficiency of traditional photocatalytic technology has been significantly limited by its inadequate light absorption capacity and poor light utilization efficiency, which hinders its application in the wastewater treatment area. This research proposed a cellulose-induced strategy for the ordered assembly of inorganic oxides. The Bi2SiO5 nanophotocatalytic materials (MBSO) with regularly arranged turbine-like crystallites were fabricated successfully, and their grain size was precisely controlled by using nanofibers of varying dimensions as templates. Moreover, a photothermal-assisted photocatalytic material (MBSOCL) was developed by loading single-walled long-tube carbon nanotubes (CNTL) onto the MBSO surface, which achieved simultaneous enhancement across the entire process from light capture to utilization. The surface temperature of MBSOCL rapidly increases to 80.3 °C within 60 min under one sun irradiance. The degradation efficiencies of 100 mg/L RhB solution and 40 mg/L tetracycline TC solution reached 82.89% and 67.02%, respectively, by using only 10 mg of MBSOCL. In complex mixed wastewater containing both RhB and TC, the simultaneous removal efficiencies remained at 81.33% and 50.32%, respectively. Scaling-up experiments demonstrated that 0.5 g of MBSOCL effectively treated 5 g/L ultrahigh-concentration RhB wastewater, achieving a removal efficiency as high as 99.39% and exhibiting excellent tolerance to high pollutant concentrations. This work presents a novel strategy for developing solar-thermal-assisted photocatalysts with enhanced solar energy utilization efficiency, offering an effective solution to water scarcity challenges.