Photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B and phenol over BiFeO 3 /BiOCl nanocomposite

BiFeO 3 /BiOCl (BFO/BOC) nanocomposite has been synthesized through a simple chemical etching method using hydrochloric acid. XRD and HRTEM results indicated that part of BiFeO 3 transformed to BiOCl, and BiFeO 3 /BiOCl nanocomposite was successfully prepared. The bandgap values of the prepared BiFeO 3 and BiOCl sample are estimated to be 2.23 eV and 3.65 eV using ultraviolet–visible absorption spectra. There are two prominent photo absorption bands for the BFO/BOC heterostructures, which is assigned to the absorption of BiOCl and BiFeO 3 , respectively. SEM results showed that BFO/BOC sample composes of irregular BiFeO 3 nanoparticles and plate-like BiOCl particles. Compared to BiFeO 3 , the photocatalytic degradation rate of rhodamine B (Rh. B) and phenol over BFO/BOC increase by 32% and 9%. Electron transfer mechanism analysis reveals that indirect dye photosensitization of BiOCl plays the leading role on the enhanced visible light driven photodegradation of Rh. B.