Contamination of water bodies by harmful and recalcitrant organic substances is a global challenge. A promising technique for removing these organics from water/wastewater is photoelectrocatalytic oxidation which combines electrolytic and photocatalytic processes. Herein, we report the degradation of emerging pharmaceutical pollutants – acetaminophen and ciprofloxacin – at a BiVO₄/BiOI photoanode under visible irradiation via photoelectrocatalytic process. The BiVO₄/BiOI was electrodeposited on a FTO glass and characterised with XRD, SEM, EDS and diffusive reflectance UV–Vis. The results confirmed the successful electrodeposition of BiVO₄/BiOI on the glass substrate. Mott-Schotty plots confirmed the formation of p-n heterojunction between the two electrodeposited semiconductors. The calculated charge carrier density of BiVO₄/BiOI was higher than those of pristine BiVO₄ and BiOI. The binary electrode also gave improved photocurrent response compared with unitary electrodes. Degradation efficiencies of 68% and 62% were achieved upon the application of the prepared photoanode (FTO/BiVO₄/BiOI) in PEC degradation of acetaminophen and ciprofloxacin respectively using a bias potential of 1.5 V within 2 h. A synthetic pharmaceutical wastewater containing a mixture acetaminophen and ciprofloxacin was also treated with the photoanode. The photoanode was also effective in the degradation of dye. The findings of this study suggest the suitability of the prepared photoanode for the photoelectrocatalytic degradation of organic pharmaceutical pollutants in wastewater.

有害和难降解的有机物污染水体是一项全球性挑战。从水/废水中去除这些有机物的一种有前途的技术是将电解和光催化过程相结合的光电催化氧化。在本文中，我们报告了在可见光下通过光电催化过程在BiVO ₄ / BiOI光阳极上出现的新兴药物污染物对乙酰氨基酚和环丙沙星的降解。BiVO ₄ / BiOI电沉积在FTO玻璃上，并用XRD，SEM，EDS和漫反射UV-Vis表征。结果证实了BiVO ₄的成功电沉积/ BiOI在玻璃基板上。Mott-Schotty图确认了两个电沉积半导体之间pn异质结的形成。BiVO ₄ / BiOI的计算载流子密度高于原始BiVO ₄和BiOI。与单体电极相比，二元电极还提供了改善的光电流响应。使用所制备的光电阳极（FTO / BiVO ₄在2 h内使用1.5 V的偏置电位分别对乙酰氨基酚和环丙沙星的PEC降解中使用/ BiOI）。还用光阳极处理了含有对乙酰氨基酚和环丙沙星混合物的合成制药废水。光电阳极在降解染料方面也很有效。这项研究的结果表明，所制备的光阳极适用于废水中有机药物污染物的光电催化降解。