Photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in wastewater is recognized as a promising technology. However, photocatalyst Bi2O3 responds to visible light and suffers from low quantum yield. In this study, the… Click to show full abstract
Photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in wastewater is recognized as a promising technology. However, photocatalyst Bi2O3 responds to visible light and suffers from low quantum yield. In this study, the α-Bi2O3 was synthetized and used for removing Cl− in acidic solutions to transform BiOCl. A heterostructured α-Bi2O3/BiOCl nanosheet can be fabricated by coupling Bi2O3 (narrow band gap) with layered BiOCl (rapid photoelectron transmission). During the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB), the Bi2O3/BiOCl composite material presented excellent photocatalytic activity. Under visible light irradiation for 60 min, the Bi2O3/BiOCl photocatalyst delivered a superior removal rate of 99.9%, which was much higher than pristine Bi2O3 (36.0%) and BiOCl (74.4%). Radical quenching experiments and electron spin resonance spectra further confirmed the dominant effect of electron holes h+ and superoxide radical anions ·O2− for the photodegradation process. This work develops a green strategy to synthesize a high-performance photocatalyst for organic dye degradation.
               
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