Preparation of thickness-tunable BiOCl nanosheets with high photocatalytic activity for photoreduction of CO2

BiOCl nanosheets with different percentages of exposed {001} facets were prepared by a controlled facile hot-injection technique. The synthesis was conducted using bismuth chloride as a metal precursor, octadecene as a solvent, and oleic acid, oleylamine and octadecene as morphology-control agents. The presence of trace amounts of water in the reaction system leads to mild hydrolysis. The obtained BiOCl nanosheets with highly exposed {001} facets exhibited high activity for photocatalytic reduction of CO2 to CH4. Moreover, the thinner the nanosheets, the higher the production yield. The detailed mechanism has been studied. This work may afford a feasible protocol for the preparation of BiOCl nanosheets with high photocatalytic activity.