Enhanced degradation of carbamazepine by BiOX (Cl, Br, I) composite photocatalysts under simulated solar light irradiation

Abstract To use solar energy effectively, BiOX (Cl, Br, I) nanosheets with reasonable band gap structure were prepared by ultrasonic assisted hydrothermal method. The prepared BiOX (Cl, Br, I) nanosheets removed 90% of CBZ within 5 min, showing rapid degradation kinetic of 0.3858 min−1. The improved photocatalytic activities can be due to the reduced recombination of photoinduced electron-hole pairs, strong visible-light absorption ability, large surface area and pore. Radicals experiments indicated that the BiOX (Cl, Br, I) generated main holes (h+) and minor electrons (e−) to degrade CBZ. These results demonstrated the good feasibility of BiOX (Cl, Br, I) nanosheets in the degradation of CBZ under simulated solar light irradiation.