Hybrid density functional study on the mechanism for the enhanced photocatalytic properties of the ultrathin hybrid layered nanocomposite g-C3N4/BiOCl

To investigate the origin of the high photocatalytic performance of experimentally synthesized g-C3N4/BiOCl, we studied its geometry structure, electronic structure, and photocatalytic properties by means of hybrid density-functional theory (DFT). The calculated band alignment of g-C3N4 and few-layer BiOCl sheets clearly shows that g-C3N4/BiOCl is a standard type-II nanocomposite. The density of states, Bader charge, partial charge density, charge density difference, and the effective masses show that electron-hole pair can be effectively separated in the g-C3N4/BiOCl interface. The calculated absorption coefficients indicate an obvious redshift of the absorption edge. The band gap of g-C3N4/BiOCl can be modulated by external electric field, and a semiconductor-semimetal transition is observed. The type-II vdW heterostructure is still maintained during the changes of external electric field. Especially, when the electric field reaches to + 0.7 V/angstrom, the impurity states have been eliminated with the band gap of 2.3 eV. An analysis of optical properties shows that the absorption coefficient in the visible-light region is enhanced considerably as the electric-field strength increases. Our calculation results suggest that the ultrathin hybrid layered g-C3N4/BiOCl nanocomposite may have significant advantages for visible-light photocatalysis. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.