Novel H4Nb6O17/BiOCl heterojunction with oxygen defects for boosting photodegradation activity under simulated solar light

Abstract

The development of green, thorough and high-efficiency photocatalysts for tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) degradation is a hot spot in environmental and energy fields. In this work, the H+-restacked H4Nb6O17 nanotubes (RHNT) were incorporated with BiOCl plates to successfully construct RHNT/BiOCl (RTB) composites with the 1D/2D heterostructure, which was beneficial to the charge carrier separation. The introduction of oxygen vacancies in RTB composites could promote the effective separation of charge carriers and the generation of reactive active species. The performance of the as-synthesized samples was evaluated by TCH photodegradation under simulated solar light. Compared to RHNT and BiOCl, the RTB composites, with an optimal sample of RTB-7, showed the enhanced photocatalytic activity for TCH degradation. The characterization results revealed that the enhanced TCH photodegradation activity for RTB composites was due to the synergistic effect of heterojunction formation and oxygen vacancies. During TCH photodegradation for RTB-7, the active radical species were determined by the radical trapping experiments and EPR spectra. The possible TCH photodegradation pathways and mechanism over RTB-7 were explored based on the characterization results. This work offers an effective approach for the rational design and construction of 1D/2D heterostructured photocatalysts with a high efficiency.