Crystal surface engineering in Ag4V2O7: Boosting photocatalytic degradation of ciprofloxacin

Abstract This paper presents a combined theoretical and experimental study thoroughly predicts and investigates the geometry and electronic structure of the Ag 4 V 2 O 7 to unravel the impact of its surfaces for the degradation of ciprofloxacin (CIP). We show a direct connection between FE‐SEM images and computationally predicted morphologies for the as‐synthetized Ag 4 V 2 O 7 samples at different temperatures: well‐defined hexagon‐like morphologies dominated by the (100) surface at 30°C, a variety of smooth‐edged structures at 60°C, and more complex agglomerates with rougher surfaces at 90°C. The most efficient catalyst for CIP photodegradation was the sample synthesized at 30°C, which reached 52% degradation and had a greater reaction speed (0.0140 min −1 ). This result is attributed to the preferential formation of reactive species, on the (100) surface, which accelerates the photodegradation of CIP in the order: low density in the valence band, holes, h + > superoxide oxygen radicals, •O 2 − > hydroxyl radicals, • OH. Present findings shed new light on the role of the structure and electronic properties of the exposed surfaces in morphology, clearly illustrating the potential of crystal surface engineering in boosting photocatalytic performance.