BiOCl nanosheets with periodic nanochannels for high-efficiency photooxidation. (December 2020) - Zhang, Bingxing
Abstract: Structural engineering of two-dimensional (2D) materials has attracted intensive interests for promoting the performances in energy storage and catalysis. Herein, we demonstrate for the first time the construction of BiOCl nanosheets with periodic nanochannels by a wet chemical route. Such a structure induces the shortened Bi–O bonds in BiOCl crystal, which enhances the localized charge density near the valence and conduction band edge. Thus, the Coulomb interactions between photogenerated electrons and holes are strengthened in BiOCl, which promotes the robust exciton effect for high-efficiency formation of singlet oxygen in photooxidation. It is remarkable that the BiOCl nanosheets with periodic nanochannels deliver 30-fold enhanced photooxidation performance for the coupling of benzylamine than the ordinary BiOCl nanosheets. This work not only paves a new approach for creating upgraded 2D structure, but also provides a new insight in controlling photogenerated charge carriers by nanostructure engineering. Graphical abstract: BiOCl nanosheets with periodic nanochannels were synthesized by a wet chemical route fro the first time. Such a BiOCl structure possesses shortened Bi–O bond, which greatly favors the excitonic effects for high-efficiency formation of singlet oxygen in photooxidation. This unique property endows the BiOCl structure with enhanced photooxidation performance for coupling of benzylamine, which is 30-fold that of the ordinary BiOCl without nanochannels. Image 1 Highlights: BiOCl nanosheets with ordered nanochannels were synthesized for the first time. The nanochannels induce the shortened Bi-O bonds in BiOCl crystal for enhancing excitonic effect. The robust excitonic effect in such a BiOCl structure promotes the high-selectivity formation of singlet oxygen.