Controllable synthesis of highly active BiOCl with different content oxygen vacancies

High content oxygen vacancies BiOCl consisted of thinner nanosheets was successfully synthesized assisted with ammonium sulfamate (AS) via a facile solvothermal route. X-ray powder diffractometer (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), UV–Vis diffused reflectance spectra (DRS), temperature programmed oxidation (O 2 -TPD), photoluminescence (PL), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and electron spin resonance (ESR) were applied to characterize the structure, morphology as well as the physicochemical properties of as-synthesized samples. The results confirm that AS and the mix solution pH have great effect on the BiOCl properties. BOC-2 ( k  = 0.484 min − 1 ) due to its high content oxygen vacancies exhibits 23 times high visible photocatalytic performance than BOC ( k  = 0.021 min − 1 ) for degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB), and enhanced photodegradation of antibiotic tetracycline hydrochloride (TC-HCl) solution. This work provides new insights on controllable synthesis of highly active BiOCl with different content oxygen vacancies.