Microwave-assisted synthesis of La(OH)3/BiOCl n-n heterojunctions with high oxygen vacancies and its enhanced photocatalytic properties

La(OH) 3 /BiOCl n-n heterojunction (BCL) was successfully fabricated by facile microwave technique. Photocatalytic performance experiments confirmed that BCL-20 can degrade 20 mg/L tetracycline hydrochloride (TC-HCl) about 85% in 60 min, which is 2 and 0.5 times higher than that of BiOCl and La(OH) 3 , respectively. The photocatalytic mechanism reveals that the co-effect of oxygen vacancies (OVs) and rebuilt internal electric field induced by heterostructure not only broaden the light-responsive range but also augment the separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers, thus improving the photocatalytic properties of BCL. This work provides a new avenue for improving the photocatalytic performance of Bi-based photocatalysts by heterojunction and OVs.