LAUSR

Abstract Here, we report the fabrication of hierarchical BiOI/BiPO4 nano/microspheres by co-precipitation-refluxing method. The reaction time, reflux temperature and amino acid kind were optimized to form hierarchical microspheres. The BiOI/BiPO4 microspheres were used as novel and strong photocatalyst for the oxidative desulfurization of thiophene under simulated solar light. The photodesulfurization results demonstrated that the p-n heterojunction BiOI/BiPO4 nanocomposites have better photocatalytic desulfurization performance (~95%) than single BiOI or BiPO4 structures. The superior photocatalytic activity of BiOI/BiPO4 heterostructure can be attributed to the powerful visible-light absorption, unique hierarchical structures, high specific surface area, low recombination and high separation rates of electron–hole pairs due to the as-formed p-n heterojunctions. Moreover, we proposed a photocatalytic oxidation mechanism based on the active species scavenging, which revealed that the generation of •O2− and h+ species are absolutely essential for the photocatalytic desulfurization process.