The photocatalysis technique has been proven to be a promising method to solve environmental pollution in situations of energy shortage, and has been intensively investigated in the field of pollutant degradation. In this work, a band structure-controlled solid solution of BiOBrXI1−X(x = 0.00, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 1.00) with highly efficient light-driven photocatalytic activities was successfully synthesized via simple solvothermal methods. The phase composition, crystal structure, morphology, internal molecular vibration, optical properties, and energy band structure were characterized and analyzed by XRD, SEM, HRTEM, XPS, Raman, and UV Vis DRS. To evaluate the photocatalytic activity of BiOBrXI1−X, rhodamine B was selected as an organic pollutant. In particular, BiOBr0.15I0.85displayed significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity by virtue of modulating the energy band position, optimizing redox potentials, and accelerating carrier separation. Moreover, the enhancement mechanism was elucidated on the basis of band structure engineering, which provides ideas for the design of highly active photocatalysts for practical application in the fields of environmental issues and energy conservation.Keywords:BiOBrXI1−X;solid solution;photocatalytic degradation;band structure engineering
A series of Ag-loaded photocatalysts of Ag–BiOBr x I 1− x have been synthesized by a solution method and characterized by variety methods. The degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) showed that these samples exhibited excellent and composition-dependent performance in the visible light region. The Ag–BiOBr 0.75 I 0.25 composite photocatalyst shows the highest photocatalytic activity in the degradation of RhB and 4-CP pollution. The load of metal Ag has remarkably improved the photocatalytic activity. The significant enhancement in the Ag–BiOXs photoactivity could be both the effect of Ag deposits as electron traps and the surface plasma resonance absorption effect of Ag. A possible mechanism of enhanced activity of Ag–BiOXs was proposed based on the analysis of the band gap structure.