Study of the photocatalytic performance and carrier migration of reduced graphene oxide-modified infrared-responsive photocatalyst β-NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+@BiOCl-rGO

Abstract To further enhance the photocatalytic performance of BiOCl, a facile hydrothermal reduction reaction was used to synthesize the reduced graphene oxide- (rGO-) modified ternary compound photocatalyst β-NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+@BiOCl-rGO (NYF–Bi-rGO). rGO prepared using a hydrothermal method showed good conductivity. Furthermore, the specific surface area of NYF-Bi-rGO was 20-fold larger than that of NYF, which is a quality that could prove highly advantageous for use in pollutant adsorption. In addition, the ternary photocatalytic system produced by rGO increased the absorption intensity of NYF-Bi in the visible light region, and caused a red-shift of the entire absorption cross-section. In particular, analysis of carrier migration showed the introduction of rGO promoted the separation of the photoelectron-hole pairs of BiOCl, inhibited its recombination and improved the photocatalytic efficiency of the ternary photocatalyst NYF-Bi-rGO.