Oxygen vacancies enriched BiOBr with boosted photocatalytic behaviors

Abstract In this demonstration, conductive carbon (CC)/BiOBr composite photocatalysts were prepared by a one-pot solvothermal approach. The CC/BiOBr composites were studied by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-Vis diffusion reflectance spectrometry (DRS) and low-temperature electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra. The presence of CC inhibits the growth of BiOBr, heightens the specific surface area of BiOBr and photoactivated carriers separation, creates rich oxygen vacancies (OVs), rooting in the powerful effect between CC and BiOBr. Photocatalytic abilities of CC/BiOBr composites for degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under simulated solar light irradiation were evaluated. The consequences display that CC/BiOBr composites show better photocatalytic degradation performance than the pure BiOBr for elimination of RhB. The separation and transfer mechanism of photoactivated electron-hole pairs of CC/BiOBr was discussed.