A dual strategy for synthesizing crystal plane/defect co-modified BiOCl microsphere and photodegradation mechanism insights

DFT and experimental studies of the facet-dependent oxygen vacancies modulated WS2/BiOCl-OV S-scheme structure for enhanced photocatalytic removal of ciprofloxacin from wastewater

The present study explores visible light-assisted photodegradation of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride (CIP) antibiotic as a promising solution to water pollution. The focus is on transforming the optical and electronic properties of BiOCl through the generation of oxygen vacancies (OVs) and the exposure of (110) facets, forming a robust S-scheme heterojunction with WS2. The resultant OVs mediated composite with an optimal ratio of WS2 and BiOCl-OV (4-WS2/BiOCl-OV) demonstrated remarkable efficiency (94.3%) in the visible light-assisted photodegradation of CIP antibiotic within 1.5 h. The CIP degradation using 4-WS2/BiOCl-OV followed pseudo-first-order kinetics with the rate constant of 0.023 min-1, outperforming bare WS2, BiOCl, and BiOCl-OV by 8, 6, and 4 times, respectively. Density functional theory (DFT) analysis aligned well with experimental results, providing insights into the structural arrangement and bandgap analysis of the photocatalysts. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis utilized for identifying potentially degraded products while scavenging experiments and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spin trapping analysis elucidated the S-scheme charge transfer mechanism. This research contributes to advancing the design of oxygen vacancy-mediated S-scheme systems in the realm of photocatalysis, with potential implications for addressing water pollution concerns.

Fabrication of OVs enriched BiOCl microflowers doped with Fe3+ for effective destruction of two typical contaminants

In this study, a one-step solvothermal method was used to fabricate Fe3+ doped BiOCl microflowers with abundant oxygen vacancies (OVs) in the presence of glacial acetic acid. Various analytical techniques were employed to characterize the structural, morphological, and optical properties of the prepared samples. The presence of OVs was confirmed by low temperature electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) analysis. The photocatalytic results show that Fe3+ doped BiOCl photocatalysts have higher activity than the bare BiOCl, and 10% Fe3+/BiOCl exhibits the highest photocatalytic performance, the photocatalytic efficiency of this sample is 2.3 and 1.1 times higher than that of the blank BiOCl toward photocatalytic degradation of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and rhodamine B (RhB), respectively. Furthermore, Fe3+ doped BiOCl demonstrates excellent reusability. Based on the experimental observations, an enhancement mechanism for the photocatalytic activity of Fe3+ doped BiOCl was reasonably elucidated.

Outstanding photo-thermo synergy in aerobic oxidation of cyclohexane by bismuth tungstate-bismuth oxychloride high-low heterojunction

The difficulty of achieving both high conversion rate and high selectivity is a huge challenge in the catalytic aerobic oxidation of cyclohexane. In this paper, bismuth tungstate-bismuth oxychloride (Bi2WO6-BiOCl) nanoflower heterojunctions prepared via a one-step solvothermal process were applied in the photo-thermo synergetic catalytic oxidation of cyclohexane in the dried air. With the addition of little water at different reaction temperature, the ratio of bismuth to tungsten and the mass ratio of Bi2WO6 to BiOCl can be precisely tailored in the nanoflower sphere composites with thin nanosheets. Their microscopic morphology, elemental composition, crystal structure, and photoelectrochemical characteristics were explored by different characterization methods. The Bi2WO6-BiOCl composites possessed poor photocatalytic and thermal performances with the low conversion rates of 1.43% and 2.68%, respectively. However, through the photo-thermo catalytic oxidation process, an exceptional conversion rate of 13.32% was achieved with excellent selectivity of 99.22% for cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol (KA oil) using the same Bi2WO6-BiOCl composites. This superior performance outstrips Bi2WO6 flowers, BiOCl nanosheets and Bi2WO6-BiOCl composites with other compounding ratios. The creation of a high-low heterojunction in the Bi2WO6-BiOCl composite was confirmed by band energy analysis. The opto-electronic analysis, band energy analysis, sacrifice experiments, and active radical analysis were employed to elucidate the mechanism for the exceptional photo-thermo catalytic performance in detail. This work offers an exploratory solution to the challenges of high energy consumption and the difficulty in simultaneously achieving high selectivity and high conversion rates in cyclohexane oxidation, thus holding significant value.

Br-Doped BiOCl Nanosheet Exposed (001) Facet: Surface Oxygen Vacancy and Directed Electron Flow Boosting the Photocatalytic Performance

The defective BiOCl nanosheet exposed (001) facet with favorable photocatalytic performance was designed. The surface microstructure analysis and theoretical calculation certified the dominant exposed (001) facet and rich surface oxygen defects of Br--doped BiOCl (B-6) nanosheets. The energy level structure analysis indicates that the band gap can be narrowed and the light absorption range can be widened by introducing Br- to BiOCl, and the presence of defective energy levels increases the photogenerated carrier transfer efficiency. Moreover, the doping of Br- in BiOCl promotes the directional flow of electrons to the surface of B-6, which improves the photocatalytic performance of the sample. Thus, the Br--doped BiOCl can degrade 96.5% RhB within 6 min under visible-light irradiation with high apparent reaction rate constants of 0.51 min-1, exhibiting the strongest photocatalytic degradation performance. This work provides guidance for the preparation of Bi-based photocatalysts with excellent performance.

Enhanced immobilization of Arsenic(III) and Auto-oxidation to Arsenic(V) by titanium oxide (TiO2), due to Single-Atom vacancies and oxyanion formation

Pollution control of As(III), a naturally occurring carcinogen, has recently gained a global attention, while due to the dominance of neutral H3AsO3 over a wide pH range, As(III) immobilization by most minerals is not efficient as As(V) immobilization. TiO2 shows promise for controlling As(III) pollution, and herein, a comprehensive study about As(III) adsorption by TiO2 and oxyanion formation is conducted by means of DFT + D3 methods. Both anatase and rutile are effective for As(III) adsorption, while As(III) adsorption affinities differ significantly and are -1.48 and -3.79 eV for pristine surfaces, ascend to -3.85 and -5.08 eV for O vacancies, and further to -5.37 and -5.26 eV for Ti vacancies, respectively. The bidentate binuclear complexes dominate for pristine surfaces, and O vacancies prefer OAs insertion into TiO2 lattice, while for Ti vacancies, all As(III) centers are auto-oxidized to As(V). Ti-3d, O-2p or/and As-4p rather than other orbitals contribute significantly to As adsorption, and O and Ti vacancies promote adsorption through stronger orbital hybridization. The superior adsorption for Ti vacancies originates from As(V) formation instead of bonding interactions. The formation of As oxyanions, which may occur spontaneously at pristine surfaces and is greatly promoted by O and Ti vacancies, enhances As(III) adsorption pronouncedly and becomes a viable strategy for As(III) immobilization. H2AsO3- and HAsO32- dominate for pristine surfaces and O vacancies, and for Ti vacancies, H2AsO4- and HAsO42- dominate over anatase whereas AsO43- also makes an important contribution over rutile. Results rationalize experimental observations available, and provide significantly new insights about the migration, bioavailability and fate of As(III) over TiO2 surfaces that facilitate the exploration of scavengers for As and other pollutants.

In situ synthesis of a Bi2O3 quantum dot decorated BiOCl heterojunction with superior photocatalytic capability for organic dye and antibiotic removal

As a decoration method, coupling a photocatalyst with semiconductor quantum dots has been proven to be an efficient strategy for enhanced photocatalytic performance. Herein, a novel BiOCl nanosheet decorated with Bi₂O₃ quantum dots (QDs) was first synthesized by a facile one-step in situ chemical deposition method at room temperature. The as-prepared materials were characterized by multiple means of analysis. The Bi₂O₃QDs with an average diameter of about 8.0 nm were uniformly embedded on the surface of BiOCl nanosheets. The obtained Bi₂O₃QDs/BiOCl exhibited significantly enhanced photocatalytic performance on the degradation of the rhodamine B and ciprofloxacin, which could be attributed to the band alignment, the photosensitization effect and the strong coupling between Bi₂O₃ and BiOCl. In addition, the dye photosensitization effect was demonstrated by the monochromatic photodegradation experiments. The radical trapping experiments and the ESR testing demonstrated the type II charge transfer route of the heterojunction. Finally, a reasonable photocatalytic mechanism based on the relative band positions was discussed to illustrate the photoreaction process. These findings provide a good choice for the design and potential application of BiOCl-based photocatalysts in water remediation.

Fabrication of In-S-co-doped two-dimensional BiOCl coupling with surface hydroxylation toward simultaneously efficient charge separation and redox capability for photocatalytic water remediation

Tailoring energy band structure of bismuth oxychloride (BiOCl)-based photocatalysts by virtue of the metal and/or non-metal elements is one of the promising strategy to address environmental issues, especially plays a crucial role in water remediation. However, it still remains a great challenge to balance the light-harvesting and charge carriers separation. Herein, a feasible strategy was proposed for the simultaneous integration of energy-band modulation and surface hydroxylation to alleviate the as-mentioned contradiction and long-standing issues. By using a simple one-pot hydrothermal method, In-S-co-doped BiOCl photocatalyst coupling with surface hydroxylation (denoted as In/BOC-S-OH) was prepared by the simultaneous co-precipitation and ripening process and exhibited a good photocatalytic activity for removing tetracycline (TC) under visible light-irradiation than the counterparts of In-doped BiOCl (In/BOC), S-doped BiOCl (In/BOC-S) or surface -OH modification BiOCl (In/BOC-OH). Such satisfied photocatalytic efficiency benefits from the synergistic effect on the visible light capture, charge migration and separation associated with the introduction of intermediate energy levels and surface defect, respectively. Accompanying with the introduction of In and S hetero-atoms intercalation, both the potentials of valence and conduction bands were adjusted and the reduction of the bandgap could promote the capture of photons. Meanwhile, the powerful polarization effect associated with the non-uniform charge distribution could promote the special separation of carriers. More importantly, the surface defects induced by hydroxylation could act as traps for photogenerated electrons to stimulate the rapid separation of carriers, thereby causing the cleavage of antibiotics on the catalytic surface. This research offers a reliable strategy and promising scheme via effective solar energy conversion and charge carrier separation to advance photocatalytic wastewater remediation.

Facet synergy dominant Z-scheme transition in BiOCl with enhanced 1O2 generation

BiOCl powders with different morphology were obtained through self-assembling. Their photocatalytic performance was tested through degradation of organic dye and mechanism of photocatalytic for obtained samples were investigated. Relevant characterization demonstrated that facet synergy was a main reason of photocatalytic performance promotion due to changed facet exposure and proportion under self-assembling. Theory and experimental analysis manifested that synergistic facet stimulated Z scheme transition in samples with lower (001) facet proportion, which provided favorable condition of ¹O₂ generation and simultaneously generated prominent charge separation. This work unveiled the facet synergy dominant photocatalytic performance improvement in self-assembling system of BiOCl and verified decisive role of facet proportion in constructing Z-scheme facet junction, which also prompted possibility of improving ¹O₂ generation through facet engineering under self-assembling.

Synthesis characterization of Zn-based MOF and their application in degradation of water contaminants

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are currently popular porous materials with research and application value in various fields such as medicine and engineering. Aiming at the application of MOFs in photocatalysis, this paper mainly reviews the main synthesis methods of ZnMOFs and the latest research progress of Zn MOF-based photocatalysts to degrade organic pollutants in water, such as organic dyes. This nanomaterial is being used to treat wastewater and has proven to be very efficient because of its exceptionally large surface area and porous nature. The results show that Zn-MOFs are capable of high degradation of the above pollutants and over 90% of degradation was observed in publications. In addition, the reusability percentage was examined and studies showed that the Zn-MOF nanostructure has very good stability and can continue to degrade a high percentage of pollutants after several cycles. This review focuses on Zn-MOFs and their composites. First, the methods of synthesis and characterization of these compounds are given. Finally, the application of these composites in the process of photocatalytic degradation of dye pollutants such as methylene blue, methyl orange, crystal violet, rhodamine B, etc. is explained.