Enhanced photocatalytic degradation of phenol over Ag3PO4-BiOCl1−xBrx composites. (June 2018) - Qi, Yi Ling
Graphical abstract: Highlights: Ag3 PO4 -BiOCl1−x Brx composites were successfully synthesized and characterized. The band energy of composites can be tunable by solid-solution strategy. Appropriate band-gap structure facilitates charge separation property and light absorption. Abstract: In this paper, a series of Ag3 PO4 -BiOCl1−x Brx composites with adjustable band gap has been fabricated by using a facile two-step synthetic method. The photocatalytic activity of Ag3 PO4 -BiOCl1−x Brx was evaluated by photocatalytic decomposition of phenol aqueous solution under simulated solar light irradiation. The result shows that Ag3 PO4 -BiOCl0.75 Br0.25 (1:5) composite possesses the best photocatalytic activity among all the as-prepared samples. The photocatalytic activity of Ag3 PO4 -BiOCl can be enhanced mainly owing to the strong light absorption ability by loading Ag3 PO4 on the surface of BiOCl, while the photocatalytic activities of Ag3 PO4 -BiOCl1−x Brx (x = 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1) composites could be enhanced by restraining the recombination of photo-generated electron-hole pairs. The enhanced solar-light photocatalytic activities of Ag3 PO4 -BiOCl1−x Brx composites could be ascribed to the adjustable energy band structure, which facilitates the separation of photoinduced carriers. In addition, superoxide radicals (O2 − ), holes (h + ) and OH are considered to dominate the photocatalytic degration process. Moreover, a possible mechanism of deep understanding on the base of experimental results was proposed.