Visible-Light-Active Iodide-Doped BiOBr Coatings for Sustainable Infrastructure

Abstract

The search for efficient materials for sustainable infrastructure is an urgent challenge toward potential negative emission technologies and the global environmental crisis. Pleasant, efficient sunlight-activated coatings for applications in self-cleaning windows are sought in the glass industry, particularly those produced from scalable technologies. The current work presents visible-light-active iodide-doped BiOBr thin films fabricated using aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition. The impact of dopant concentration on the structural, morphological, and optical properties was studied systematically. The photocatalytic properties of the parent materials and as-deposited doped films were evaluated using the smart ink test. An optimized material was identified as containing 2.7 atom % iodide dopant. Insight into the photocatalytic behavior of these coatings was gathered from photoluminescence and photoelectrochemical studies. The optimum photocatalytic performance could be explained from a balance between photon absorption, charge generation, carrier separation, and charge transport properties under 450 nm irradiation. This optimized iodide-doped BiOBr coating is an excellent candidate for the photodegradation of volatile organic pollutants, with potential applications in self-cleaning windows and other surfaces.

Review on synthetic approaches and PEC activity performance of bismuth binary and mixed-anion compounds for potential applications in marine engineering

“…Instead, solution-based approaches for depositing continuous BiOX thin films are frequently documented. 76,79,192–196 One of the simplest methods is the SILAR method (Fig. 9b).…”

“…9c). 76,194 The bismuth halide N , N -dimethylformamide solution was atomized with a piezoelectric device and transferred to a heated FTO-coated glass substrate. The resulting film consists of nanosheets with improved flatness and density.…”

Rapid Exciton Dissociation and Charge Transfer Endowed by Reinforced Interfacial Interaction in a Mixed-Dimensional 2D/3D Heterojunction Nanocatalyst for High-Efficiency Photocatalysis

“…1−3 The key difficulty is to look for stable photocatalysts because of their high efficiency and low cost. Though a series of photocatalysts like metal oxides (sulfides, nitrides), 4−9 metal−organic framework material, 10,11 and Bi-based photocatalysts have been designed, 12,13 nevertheless, the unsatisfactory light absorption, rapid charge recombination, and limited active sites greatly restrict the efficient photocatalytic H 2 evolution, CO 2 reduction, and pollutant removal. 14 Recently, graphitic carbon nitride (CN) has been confirmed as an earth-abundant visible-light photocatalyst due to its outstanding layered structure, better chemical and thermal stability, and applicable band gap.…”

“…Semiconductor-based photocatalysis technology is regarded as a new entryway to overcoming the huge consumption of energy. − The key difficulty is to look for stable photocatalysts because of their high efficiency and low cost. Though a series of photocatalysts like metal oxides (sulfides, nitrides), − metal–organic framework material, , and Bi-based photocatalysts have been designed, , nevertheless, the unsatisfactory light absorption, rapid charge recombination, and limited active sites greatly restrict the efficient photocatalytic H 2 evolution, CO 2 reduction, and pollutant removal . Recently, graphitic carbon nitride (CN) has been confirmed as an earth-abundant visible-light photocatalyst due to its outstanding layered structure, better chemical and thermal stability, and applicable band gap. , Nevertheless, the bulk CN obtained by traditional thermal polymerization exhibits inherently limited photocatalytic performance due to its certain intrinsic drawbacks, such as the incomplete absorption of visible light, insufficient surface-active site, and rapid recombination of photogenerated hole–electron pairs. − In particular, the strong exciton effect from the Frenkel excitons interaction may hinder the dissociation of singlet exciton and is often ignored. − Free charge carriers will compete against neutral excitons during a photocatalytic reaction. , How to obtain a sufficient quantity of charge carriers via the dissociation of excitons into electrons and holes is still a vital challenge.…”