Bismuth oxychloride/carbon nanofiber heterostructures for the degradation of 4-nitrophenol

In this paper, a two-step synthesis route combining an electrospinning technique and a solvothermal method has been accepted as a straightforward protocol for the exploitation of BiOCl-carbon nanofiber (CNF) hierarchical heterostructures. Photocatalytic tests showed that the BiOCl-CNF heterostructures possess a much higher degradation rate for 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) than pure BiOCl. The enhanced photocatalytic activity could be attributed to the effective separation of photogenerated carriers driven by the photoinduced potential difference generated at the BiOCl-CNF heterojunction interface. The OH center dot radicals played a critical role in the photocatalytic degradation of 4-NP over the BiOCl-CNF heterostructures. Moreover, the heterostructures could be recovered easily by sedimentation without a decrease in photocatalytic activity.