Photocatalytic properties of visible light-responsive rGO/BiOCl photocatalysts benefited from enriched oxygen vacancies

In this study, reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/BiOCl catalysts with visible light response capacity were synthe-sized in-situ using a mild and facile hydrothermal method. rGO/BiOCl photocatalysts were studied by specific surface area analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV-Vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS) techniques. In light of the excellent electrical conductivity of rGO and surface modification of rGO, the photogenerated carriers separation efficiency of rGO/BiOCl is remarkably improved. The experiments results reveal that BiOCl with rGO modification holds higher photocatalytic activity than the single BiOCl. Moreover, the highest photocatalytic activity is obtained when the mass ratio of rGO and BiOCl is 2%. Under visible light irradiation, compared with the single BiOCl, activity of the 2% rGO/BiOCl sample toward destruction of tetracycline (TC) and rhodamine B (RhB) increases by 49.8 and 6.8 times, respectively. The 2% rGO/BiOCl catalyst also shows enhanced degradation activity for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), trichloroacetic acid (TCA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) under UV light irradiation. Considering the above experimental observations, photocatalytic enhancement mechanism for rGO/BiOCl photocatalyst was reasonably elaborated.