Promoting LED light driven photocatalytic inactivation of bacteria by novel β-Bi2O3@BiOBr core/shell photocatalyst

A novel beta-Bi2O3@BiOBr core/shell photocatalyst was successfully designed by a facile ultrasonication method. The beta-Bi2O3@BiOBr photocatalyst showed better photocatalytic antibacterial activity than pure beta-Bi2O3 and BiOBr under LED light. beta-Bi2O3@BiOBr photocatalyst can completely inactivate Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) within 50 min. The enhanced photoactivity is due to a hybrid structure of BiOBr and beta-Bi2O3, which led to an efficient separation of electron (e(-)) and hole (h(+)) pairs between the semiconductors. Moreover, the trapping experiment confirmed that h(+) played an important role in the photocatalytic process. The present work provided a novel LED light-activated photocatalyst that was promising for water treatment. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.