Effectively destruction of rhodamine B and perfluorooctanoic acid over BiOCl with boosted separation ability of carriers benefited from tunable oxygen vacancies

Abstract

BiOCl-based photocatalysts have triggered considerable concern because of the unique layered crystal structures and electronic band structures. Construction of oxygen vacancies (OVs) can promote photocatalytic activity, which provides a new insight into understanding the separation and migration behavior of photoexcited carriers. In this study, BiOCl photocatalysts were manufactured through a solvothermal method via adding polyvinyl alcohol 1700 (PVA 1700) into the solvothermal synthetic system. The PVA-BiOCl samples (BiOCl prepared with the assistance of PVA 1700) have visible light-responsive capacity and display stronger separation ability of photoinduced charge than the reference BiOCl, proven by surface photovoltage spectroscopy (SPS) and electrochemical tests. The PVA-BiOCl samples hold richer OVs compared with the blank BiOCl. The destruction ability of PVA-BiOCl was studied by elimination of rhodamine B (RhB) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) under visible light and mercury lamp irradiation, respectively. The consequences show that the PVA-BiOCl has better photocatalytic properties than the blank BiOCl. When the weight ratio of PVA 1700/BiOCl is 4.4, the sample possesses the supreme photocatalytic property, the photocatalytic performance of the sample is two-fold of that of the blank BiOCl and the sample exhibits high structural stability. Combined with all the results, photocatalytic mechanism of PVA-BiOCl was discussed and revealed.