One-pot synthesis of BiOCl nanosheets with dual functional carbon for ultra-highly efficient photocatalytic degradation of RhB.

Water pollution from Rhodamine B (RhB) has become a challenging problem which human beings are urgent to confront. A high-efficiency photocatalysis system is required for the industrial application. A novel carbon doped bismuth oxychloride (C-BiOCl) composite photocatalyst with dual functional carbon was synthesized by one-pot hydrothermal process. The introduction of the carbon in the synthesis modified the morphology of BiOCl by suppressing the growing-up of the layered structures, which resulted in more active catalytic sites and shorter path of charge transfer. Moreover, the doped carbon would improve the utilization of light, and shift the band structures of the BiOCl. The as-synthesized C-BiOCl possesses a significant improvement (around 400%) on the photocatalytic degradation of RhB. Therefore, this efficient photocatalyst with dual functional carbon has been synthesized and would be regarded as a novel strategy for the design of high-performance photocatalysts.