Research Progress of and Perspectives of BiOCl Photocatalytic Materials

BiOCl is considered as a candidate to effectively separate photogenerated carriers due to its strong internal electronic field, thus being regarded as a new type of photocatalyst. We interpret BiOCl from the crystal structure, photocatalytic mechanism, synthetic method and influence factors of photocatalytic performance. In view of the shortages of inherent wide band-gap and high recombination probability photo-generated carrier for BiOCl, researches on how to improve the photocatalytic ability were summarized by the modification methods such as ion doping, noble metal deposition, heterojunction construction, morphology control and oxygen vacancy engineering during synthesis. Finally, the future development trend of BiOCl was prospected.