BiOCl nanosheets with periodic nanochannels for high-efficiency photooxidation

Structural engineering of two-dimensional (2D) materials has attracted intensive interests for promoting the performances in energy storage and catalysis. Herein, we demonstrate for the first time the construction of BiOCl nanosheets with periodic nanochannels by a wet chemical route. Such a structure induces the shortened Bi–O bonds in BiOCl crystal, which enhances the localized charge density near the valence and conduction band edge. Thus, the Coulomb interactions between photogenerated electrons and holes are strengthened in BiOCl, which promotes the robust exciton effect for high-efficiency formation of singlet oxygen in photooxidation. It is remarkable that the BiOCl nanosheets with periodic nanochannels deliver 30-fold enhanced photooxidation performance for the coupling of benzylamine than the ordinary BiOCl nanosheets. This work not only paves a new approach for creating upgraded 2D structure, but also provides a new insight in controlling photogenerated charge carriers by nanostructure engineering.