Rational design of a novel C/ZnO/BiOI composite for efficient visible-light-driven photocatalysis

Abstract A novel C/ZnO/BiOI composite has been fabricated by a simple hydrothermal and ultrasonic method and characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM and XPS. The photocatalytic activity of C/ZnO/BiOI composite was examined by degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light irradiation. Compared with ZnO and C/ZnO, the photocatalytic activity of C/ZnO/BiOI was dramatically enhanced, which was determined to be 95.0%. In addition, the C/ZnO/BiOI possessed a stable and efficient photocatalytic activity after five recycling runs. Mechanism study showed that superoxide anionic radicals ( O2−) was the major active species.