Boron nitride quantum dots loading red phosphorus for efficient visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants

Constructing new metal-free green materials opens up new research directions for photocatalysis. Red phosphorus (RP) modified by boron nitride quantum dots (BNQDs) was prepared by a simple method. The introduction of BNQDs enabled RP to exhibit excellent photocatalytic performance, including the degradation of various organic pollutants, owing to increasing the separation and transfer efficiency of charge carrier. The photocatalytic activities of the composite materials were evaluated by the degradation of malachite green (MG) and Rhodamine B (RhB) under visible-light irradiation, and BNQDs/RP-3 showed the best activity among the BNQDs/RP composites. Finally, a possible mechanism for the enhanced photocatalytic activity was proposed and discussed. Besides, the degradation of different organic pollutants in this work also shows its application prospects in actual wastewater treatment.

Automated summary

Constructing new metal-free green materials for photocatalysis is a new research direction, with RP modified by BNQDs showing excellent photocatalytic performance in degrading organic pollutants under visible light irradiation. The study proposes a possible mechanism for the enhanced photocatalytic activity and demonstrates potential application prospects in actual wastewater treatment.