A Bi/BiOCl heterojunction photocatalyst with enhanced electron-hole separation and excellent visible light photodegrading activity

Under visible light irradiation, excited electrons in heterojunction structure of Bi/BiOCl were transferred into oxygen vacancies states, and then to the Bi metal nanoparticles, resulting in effective separation of electron-hole pairs. The heterojunction photocatalyst exhibited an extraordinary high activity in photodegradation of RhB dye and persistent organic pollutants, i.e. RhB was completely degraded in 2 minutes.