LAUSR

Abstract Background In recently years, the organic pollutants removal using semiconductor photocatalysis has attracted significant interest, however, the insufficient visible-light-harvesting ability and fast photogenerated charge recombination of photocatalysts vastly hinder their practical application. Methods In this work, a facile hydrothermal method was developed for the preparation of Ni doped ultrathin-layered and porous Bi2O2CO3, thus the enhanced light absorption and charge separation were simultaneously achieved. Significant Findings The experimental and characterization results show that the formation of ultrathin porous structure can promote multiple scattering of the light, thus enhancing light absorption. Moreover, the adjustment of electronic structure enhances the charge transfer rate greatly and suppresses the recombination of charge carriers. Consequently, the rhodamine B (RhB) photodegradation efficiency of Ni-Bi2O2CO3 has an obvious improvement, which is 8.94-fold higher than pristine Bi2O2CO3. And the primary active species are ·O2− and ·OH radicals in the photocatalytic reaction. Moreover, the degradation pathway of RhB is studied by LC-MS technology and a probable degradation pathway is presented. This work offers an efficacious strategy for synergistically modulating and optimizing photocatalysts and provides an efficient photocatalyst for wastewater treatment.