In-situ growth into jungle-like Bi2O3/Bi2O2CO3 heterostructures with concentration-controllable oxygen vacancy and ratio-tunable phase composition

A series of jungle-like bismuth oxide/bismuthyl subcarbonate (Bi 2 O 3 /Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 ; denoted as BO/BOC) heterojunctions containing tunable dosage of oxygen vacancy (denoted as OV) and phase composition were prepared with β -Bi 2 O 3 possessing a large amount of OVs (denoted as OVs-BO) as the precursor in the presence of carbon dioxide and water vapor. During the in-situ growth of OVs-BO/BOC heterojunctions, BO and BOC intimately contact at the interface to yield the jungle-like OVs-BO/BOC catalysts with an increased specific surface area. In the meantime, the OV concentration and phase composition of the as-fabricated OVs-BO/BOC catalysts can be regulated by adjusting the reaction time. The photocatalytic activity of as-prepared OVs-BO/BOC catalysts for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) and tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) under visible-light irradiation was evaluated. Results show that OVs-BO/BOC heterojunctions exhibit higher photocatalytic activity than OVs-BO and OVs-BOC; and OVs-BO/BOC-0.75 h (obtained at a reaction time of 0.75 h) contains about 47.5% (mass fraction) of β -Bi 2 O 3 has the highest photocatalytic activity. This is because the oxygen vacancies in OVs-BO/BOC heterojunctions exhibit high visible light absorbance ability and the interfacial Z-scheme structure of OVs-BO/OVs-BOC contributes to efficiently separate and transfer electron–hole pairs. A jungle-like Bi 2 O 3 /Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 heterojunction (denoted as OVs-BO/BOC) with concentration-controllable oxygen vacancy and ratio-tunable phase composition were synthesized by using β-Bi 2 O 3 as precursor in situ self-growth in the presence of carbon dioxide and water vapor condition. •A jungle-like OV-BO/BOC heterojunction was synthesized by a in situ self-growth method. •The OV concentration and the ratio of BO:BOC can be regulated by controlling the self-growth reaction time. •In situ self-growth method led to the intimate contact of two phase at interface. •The jungle-like morphology of OV-BO/BOC led to the bigger specific surface area of catalyst.