3D BiOBr/BiOCl heterostructure microspheres with enhanced photocatalytic activity

In this paper, BiOBr/BiOCl heterostructure microspheres are prepared successfully via a simple solvothermal way. Research shows that BiOBr/BiOCl microspheres exhibit significantly much higher photocatalytic performance than pure BiOBr or BiOCl. The optimum photodegradation rate of BiOBr/BiOCl for rhodamine B (RhB) is 0.0290 min⁻¹, which is approximately 4.5 times as high as pure BiOBr (k = 0.0065 min⁻¹) and 8.8 times as high as pure BiOCl (k = 0.0033 min⁻¹) under visible light. For this new photocatalyst, the enhanced photoactivity is presumably attributed to the formation of heterojunction which improves the separation of photoinduced electrons and holes to a great extent. Mechanism investigation reveals that O₂ ^.− plays significant roles during the photocatalysis process.