A visible-light-driven heterojuncted composite WO3/Bi12O17Cl2: Synthesis, characterization, and improved photocatalytic performance

Abstract Novel visible-light-driven WO 3 /Bi 12 O 17 Cl 2 heterojuncted photocatalysts with different mass ratios were successfully fabricated by a facile hydrothermal process and were characterized by XRD, UV–Vis DRS, SEM, TEM, HRTEM, XPS, BET, Raman, PL, and ESR techniques. The original morphology of Bi 12 O 17 Cl 2 was maintained after the addition of WO 3 nanoparticles and the specific surface area values of WBx composites were obviously enlarged. The intimate contact of both components in HRTEM confirmed the generation of smooth phase interface. These as-prepared samples were subjected to the photocatalytic degradation of dye rhodamine B (RhB) and tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) under visible light irradiation (λ≥420 nm). Under identical conditions, WBx composites showed greatly enhanced photocatalytic performance in comparison to bare WO 3 and Bi 12 O 17 Cl 2 . Especially, the sample WB0.5 exhibited the highest photocatalytic removal outcome over RhB among all tested candidates and owned an apparent rate constant about 73.7, 7.1, 15.8 times of those pure WO 3 , Bi 12 O 17 Cl 2 , and N-doped TiO 2 , respectively. The enhancement of photocatalytic capability of composites mainly attributed to the suitable morphology, enlarged specific surface areas, strengthened optical property, and favorable well-aligned straddling band-structures. Active species entrapping experiments confirmed holes and superoxide radicals as major oxidative species, by which, a possible photocatalytic mechanism was primarily proposed.