Heterostructured α-Bi2O3/BiOCl Nanosheet for Photocatalytic Applications

Photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in wastewater is recognized as a promising technology. However, photocatalyst Bi2O3 responds to visible light and suffers from low quantum yield. In this study, the alpha-Bi2O3 was synthetized and used for removing Cl- in acidic solutions to transform BiOCl. A heterostructured alpha-Bi2O3/BiOCl nanosheet can be fabricated by coupling Bi2O3 (narrow band gap) with layered BiOCl (rapid photoelectron transmission). During the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB), the Bi2O3/BiOCl composite material presented excellent photocatalytic activity. Under visible light irradiation for 60 min, the Bi2O3/BiOCl photocatalyst delivered a superior removal rate of 99.9%, which was much higher than pristine Bi2O3 (36.0%) and BiOCl (74.4%). Radical quenching experiments and electron spin resonance spectra further confirmed the dominant effect of electron holes h(+) and superoxide radical anions center dot O-2(-) for the photodegradation process. This work develops a green strategy to synthesize a high-performance photocatalyst for organic dye degradation.

Automated summary

This study developed a green strategy to synthesize a high-performance photocatalyst, α-Bi2O3/BiOCl composite material, for the degradation of organic dyes. The composite material exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity and a high removal rate under visible light irradiation.