Architecting in-plane bicrystals in BiOCl nanosheets for enhanced photocatalytic performance

Interface engineering has emerged as an effective strategy for addressing challenges related to insufficient solar light harvesting and poor photocharge separation in photocatalysis. The distinctive in-plane homogeneous architecture offers the potential for significant enhancements in both photocharge separation and solar light absorption. Herein, a simple one-pot hydrothermal method was developed to construct in-plane homogeneous BiOCl bicrystals within BiOCl nanosheets (BOC-B). During this process, thiourea plays a pivotal role in introducing dislocations to form bicrystal structure. As expected, the synthesized BOC-B samples exhibited substantially higher photocatalytic degradation activity for TC and RhB compared to BOC. Notably, the mechanism underlying effective solar light absorption and charge carrier separation, driven by the homogeneous bicrystal structure, was elucidated through a series of experimental evidences. This work introduces a novel homogeneous bicrystal structure in BiOCl photocatalysts to optimize catalytic activity, providing a framework for developing new BiOCl-based photocatalysts.