Facet-dependent photocatalytic performances of BiOCl under simulated sunlight irradiation

This paper investigates the construction of BiOCl with different dominant exposed facets and Ag/BiOCl. And their application as photo-catalysts was also evaluated by photodegradation of Rhodamine B (RhB). The synthesized photocatalysts were characterized by XRD, SEM, and N-2-adsorption-desorption. This excellent photocatalytic activity was attributed to the exposure of (001) facet, which facilitated the separation of photogenerated electrons and holes. It reveals that the Ag depositing on BiOCl could result into enhanced photocatalytic activities compared with that of the pure BiOCl. The photocatalytic mechanisms were analyzed by active species trapping experiments, indicating that the h(+) plays a major role on photocatalytic degradation reaction of RhB with Bi-H2 and Ag/BiOCl.