Enhanced Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity of BiOCl with Ti₃C₂ Nanosheets for Pollutant Photodegradation

Abstract

Ti₃C₂/BiOCl composite was successfully synthesized by combining BiOCl (BOC) with an exposed (110) crystal plane and Ti₃C₂ using a simple hydrothermal process. The photocatalytic performance of produced composite was evaluated using the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) and tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) under visible light. The results demonstrated that Ti₃C₂/BOC composite had higher photocatalytic activity than pure BOC. The optimum incorporation amount of Ti₃C₂ was 2 wt%. The photodegradation rate of 2 wt%-Ti₃C₂/BOC at 10 min to 20 mg/L RhB was 97.6%, which was much higher than that of BOC (75.3%). Similarly, the photodegradation rate of 2 wt%-Ti₃C₂/BOC to 10 mg/L TCH at 30 min was 80.4%, which was higher than BOC (68.1%). In addition, the prepared 2 wt%-Ti₃C₂/BOC composite also maintained good stability even after four cycles. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), transient photocurrent response (IT) and ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis) confirmed that the photoelectrochemical properties of 2 wt%-Ti₃C₂/BOC composite were significantly improved. On the basis of analyzing the action mechanism of photocatalyst, it was pointed out that ·O₂- and h⁺ were the main active substances in the photodegradation of RhB and TCH by 2 wt%-Ti₃C₂/BOC.

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