Visible-light Photocatalytic Activity of BiOCl/Bi₃O₄Cl Nanocomposites

Visible-light Photocatalytic Activity of BiOCl/Bi₃O₄Cl Nanocomposites

The heterojunction structures of BiOCl/$Bi_3O_4Cl$, exhibiting considerable visible-light photocatalytic efficiency, were prepared by a simple wet-chemical process at ambient condition. The prepared nanocomposites were characterized by XRD, TEM, and UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectra. Under visible light (${\lambda}\geq$420 nm) irradiation, BiOCl/$Bi_3O_4Cl$ exhibited an enhanced photocatalytic activity in decomposing 2-propanol (IP) in gas phase and salicylic acid (SA) in aqueous solution, whereas the bare BiOCl and $Bi_3O_4Cl$ showed negligible activities. It is deduced that the remarkable visible-light photocatalytic activity of the BiOCl/$Bi_3O_4Cl$ originates from the hole $(h^+)$ transfer between VB of the $Bi_3O_4Cl$ and BiOCl semiconductors.