Effective removal of phenol by activated charcoal/BiOCl composite under UV light irradiation

In this work, composites of BiOCl with activated carbon (AC) were prepared via hydrothermal synthesis under environmentally benign conditions using water as solvent. The as-prepared samples were then characterized by using different techniques such as X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDX), Raman Spectroscopy and UV-Vis Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy. The different compositions of AC were used for the synthesis of BiOCl composites (0.5 wt.% and 1 wt.%) to study the removal efficiency of the composites for phenol as model pollutant. Through the photocatalytic degradation results, it was found that more than half of the phenol was photodegraded by AC/BiOCl composites in only 120 min under UV light irradiation. The AC decreased the primary crystallite size and band gap of the samples which further supports the high performance of AC/BiOCl composites than pure BiOCl under UV light irradiation. (C) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Automated summary

In this study, composites of BiOCl with activated carbon were prepared via hydrothermal synthesis. The as-prepared samples were characterized and the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of the composites for phenol was evaluated. The results showed that the AC/BiOCl composites exhibited higher photocatalytic activity and effectively removed organic pollutants such as phenol.