LAUSR

Novel porous Eu-doped Bi5O7I spherical-like powders were successfully synthesized by thermal decomposition of Eu-doped BiOI microspheres in atmosphere under 450 °C for 2 h. The Eu-doped Bi5O7I powders were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area and UV–Vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy. In this work, Rhodamine B (RhB) was used as the typical simulative pollutant to examine the photodegradation efficiency of these as-prepared Eu-doped Bi5O7I samples. The results shown that 99.3% of RhB can be degraded by 3% Eu-doped Bi5O7I sample after 18 min visible light irradiation. The scavenger test results indicated that the photo-generated h+ played an important role in the degradation of RhB. The photodegradation mechanisms for RhB over the Eu-doped Bi5O7I photocatalysts was also studied. The enhancement of photocatalytic activity could be attributed to the Eu3+ ions. From our perspective, Eu3+ ions can improve the separation rate of photoinduced electron–hole pairs. Furthermore, the 3% Eu-doped Bi5O7I sample was also exhibited superior photocatalytic activity for methyl orange and phenol under visible light irradiation.