Ultrasonic-assisted synthesis of two dimensional BiOCl/MoS2 with tunable band gap and fast charge separation for enhanced photocatalytic performance under visible light

Abstract Janus shaped BiOCl/MoS 2 composites with two dimensional configuration are successfully prepared via a facile pulse ultrasonic assisted method, which spontaneously introduces oxygen vacancies on the BiOCl surface and builds well-defined heterojuction at the BiOCl/MoS 2 interfaces. The as-prepared BiOCl/MoS 2 composites possess reduced band gap and defect energy levels due to the incorporation of MoS 2 and the oxygen vacancies, which permits the enhanced light harvesting efficiency in the visible range. In addition, because of the formed Bi S bonds at the BiOCl/MoS 2 interface, the composites demonstrate improved charge separation of the photo-generated carriers. Therefore, when used as photocatalyst for Rhodamine B photodegradation, the optimized composite demonstrates a degradation rate of 0.078 min −1 , which is much enhanced compared with that of pure BiOCl (0.052 min −1 ). Mechanism investigation indicates the degradation is a hole mediated process. In addition, the composite shows good stability and outstanding organic carbon removal efficiency, which could serve as a promising photocatalyst for water remediation under visible light.