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Antibiotic drugs have become dominating organic pollutants in water resources, and efficient removal of antibiotic drugs is the priority task to protect the water environment. Cu 3 P/SnO 2 photocatalysts of various Cu 3 P loadings (10-40 wt% Cu 3 P) were synthesized using a combination of hydrothermal synthesis and a partial annealing method. Their photocatalytic activity was tested for tetracycline hydrochloride (TC-HCl) degradation under visible light irradiation. Cu 3 P/SnO 2 samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N 2 -adsorption, ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-vis DRS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results showed that the p-n type heterostructure between Cu 3 P and SnO 2 was successfully constructed, and addition of Cu 3 P to SnO 2 could improve its photocatalytic activity at an optimized loading of 30 wt% Cu 3 P. In photocatalytic degradation studies, removal rates of around 80% were found in 30 minutes of dark reaction and 140 min of photodegradation. The removal rate was superior to that of Cu 3 P and SnO 2 alone under the same experimental conditions. According to trapping experiments and electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements, photogenerated holes (h + ) and superoxide radicals ˙O 2 - were considered as the main oxidation species in the present system. Finally, the reuse experiments showed high stability of Cu 3 P/SnO 2 . This study reports Cu 3 P as a cocatalyst combined with semiconductor SnO 2 to form a highly efficient heterogeneous photocatalyst for the degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride for the first time., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

The designed synthesis of noble-metal-free photocatalysts with hierarchical heteroassemblies in a facile, mild and eco-friendly way becomes more and more important, because we can explore the novel properties and applications of novel heterostructures via this method. Herein we report a two-step aqueous strategy for novel hierarchical heterostructures of ZnO nanorod (NR) arrays grown on graphitic carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4 ). The novel g-C 3 N 4 /ZnO NR heterostructures that integrate g-C 3 N 4 and ZnO NR via high-quality g-C 3 N 4 -ZnO heterojunctions have beneficial properties such as high specific surface area (SSA), open spatial architecture, good electronic conductivity, and effective charge transfer interfaces, and are promising in many related areas such as water splitting, solar cells, etc. As a noble-metal-free and visible-light-responsive photocatalytic material, a typical g-C 3 N 4 /ZnO NR photocatalytic system exhibits enhanced photocatalytic activity toward H 2 evolution, almost 3.5 times higher than that of pure g-C 3 N 4 . The superior photocatalytic property can be ascribed to the synergistic effect of the unique g-C 3 N 4 /ZnO NR heterostructures., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)