In Situ Construction of Dye-Sensitized BiOCl/Rutile-TiO₂ Nanorod Heterojunctions with Highly Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity for Treating Persistent Organic Pollutants

Abstract

The construction of efficient and stable heterojunction photocatalysts with a controllable close contact interface and visible-light response is a challenging research topic in the field of photocatalysis. Herein, a series of BiOCl/rutile-TiO2 (R-TiO2) nanorod heterojunctions were constructed using R-TiO2 nanorods as supporting frameworks followed by selective adsorption of Cl– on R-TiO2(110) facets and in situ growth of BiOCl on the surface of TiO2 nanorods. The strong affinity of rhodamine B (RhB) as a photosensitizer for BiOCl allowed the prepared BiOCl/R-TiO2 heterojunctions to work efficiently under visible-light irradiation. The dye-sensitized BiOCl/R-TiO2 nanorod heterojunctions displayed promising photocatalytic performance for simultaneously treating RhB and the persistent organic pollutant 2-sec-butyl-4,6-dinitrophenol (DNBP). The highly enhanced photodegradation activity of the BiOCl/R-TiO2 system was mainly attributed to the efficient RhB-photosensitization effect, the enhanced heterojunction effect, and the suitable conduction band match between BiOCl and R-TiO2, which facilitated electron transfer from the excited RhB to the catalyst surface and charge separation across the BiOCl/R-TiO2 interface, thus promoting the formation of •O2 – and h+ as dominant active species in the reaction system for degradation of pollutants. The results demonstrate that the construction of a dye-sensitized BiOCl/R-TiO2 heterojunction system is an effective strategy for improving the photocatalytic potential.

High-Efficiency Photocatalytic Ammonia Synthesis by Facet Orientation-Supported Heterojunction Cu2O@BiOCl[100] Boosted by Double Built-In Electric Fields

“…The peaks of 11.2, 24.1, 25.9, 32.4, 33.1, 34.6, 40.9 45.9, 49.0, and 55.0° in the figure belong to (001), (002), (101), (110), (102), (111), (112), (200), (113), and (104) crystal planes of polycrystalline BiOCl, respectively (enlarged and complete curves of BiOCl and Cu 2 O are shown in Figures S5 and S6). The XRD curves of Cu 2 O@BiOCl-ran and Cu 2 O@BiOCl­[100] not only retain all diffraction peaks of BiOCl but also contain most characteristic peaks representing Cu 2 O [(111) diffraction peak of Cu 2 O overlaps the (003) crystal plane of BiOCl], which further shows that Cu 2 O is successfully grown on BiOCl.…”

“…After that, the above solution was poured into a 100 mL PTFE lined stainless steel autoclave and hydrothermal reaction was conducted at 150 °C for 50 h. After the reaction, the reactor was cooled to room S5 and S6). 42 The XRD curves of Cu 2 O@BiOCl-ran and Cu 2 O@BiOCl[100] not only retain all diffraction peaks of BiOCl but also contain most characteristic peaks representing Cu 2 O [(111) diffraction peak of Cu 2 O overlaps the (003) crystal plane of BiOCl], which further shows that Cu 2 O is successfully grown on BiOCl.…”

Insight into the relationship between redox ability and separation efficiency via the case of α-Bi2O3/Bi5NO3O7

“…It is generally acknowledged that a higher transient photocurrent peak intensity has a higher separation efficiency of photo-induced carriers. 54,55 To assist with further studies, the separation effect of the photogenerated carriers of BNO, 0.744BBNO and α-Bi 2 O 3 under vis-light and UV-light, as well as the transient photocurrent of the samples is shown in Fig. S3a and b.…”

Efficient Charge Separation via MoSe2 Nanosheets with Tunable 1T Phase Contents: Piezoreduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) and Piezodegradation of RhB

“…To determine the main active substance for RhB removal by MoSe 2 -220 nanosheets, free radical trapping experiments of scavengers were performed in the dark. Typically, holes (h + ), hydroxyl radicals ( • OH), superoxide radicals ( • O 2 – ), and electrons (e – ) are eliminated by disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA-2Na), isopropyl alcohol (IPA), p -benzoquinone (BQ), and K 2 S 2 O 8 , respectively. − As shown in Figure b, the degradation rate remained unchanged with the addition of EDTA-2Na, indicating that h + was not active species involved in degradation. The degradation rate slightly dropped from 99 to 93% after the addition of IPA, and it could be deduced that • OH played a role during the piezoelectric degradation process.…”