3D BiOI-GO composite with enhanced photocatalytic performance for phenol degradation under visible-light

Coupling semiconductors with graphene-based materials could enable better photocatalytic performance as compared to that of pristine semiconductors. In this work, a three-dimensional BiOI-GO composite was fabricated by a simple self-assembly approach. The resultant BiOI-GO composite showed a higher photocatalytic activity than that of pure BiOI and P25 towards the degradation of phenol under visible-light irradiation, which could be attributed to the more effective separation of photogenerated electrons and holes between BiOI and GO, and the better adsorption capacity of phenol. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.