Visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B in water by BiOCl x I 1-x solid solutions

• Published in: Water science and technology Vol. 81; no. 5; p. 1080
• Main Authors: Xu, Huan-Yan, Lu, Dan, Tan, Qu, He, Xiu-Lan, Qi, Shu-Yan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.03.2020
• Subjects: Catalysis; Light; Rhodamines; Water
• ISSN: 0273-1223

Bismuth oxyhalides (BiOXs, X = Cl, Br and I) are emerging photocatalytic materials with unique layered structure, flexible band structure and superior photocatalytic activity. The purpose of this study was to develop a facile alcoholysis route to prepare BiOCl I nanosheet solid solutions at room temperature. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS), photoluminescence emission spectroscopy (PL) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analyzer were used to characterize the as-prepared photocatalysts. These results revealed that two-dimension BiOCl I nanosheet solid solutions could be obtained with high percentage of {001} crystal facets exposed. Moreover, the formation of solid solution could regularly change the optical absorption thresholds and band gaps of BiOCl I photocatalysts. The photocatalytic experiments indicated that BiOCl I exhibited the highest photocatalytic performance for the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) under simulated sunlight irradiation and the photocatalytic process followed a pseudo-first-order kinetic equation. A possible mechanism of RhB photodegradation over BiOCl I solid solutions was proposed based on the structural properties of BiOCl I solid solutions and RhB photosensitization.