Excellent integrated adsorption and photocatalysis of a black BiOBr for fast removal dyes: A case of carbon species and oxygen vacancies synergistic effect

• Integrated adsorption and photocatalysis excellent black BiOBr has been synthesized. • OV synergizes with carbon species enhance the photocarriers separation and balance the ROS production. • RhB can be quickly and completely broken down and more than half of them are mineralized after 10 min. Combined adsorption and photodegradation is a promising way for fast removal of contaminants. For this aim, a black BiOBr containing Bi 5+ , oxygen vacancy (OV) and carbon species displays excellent adsorption and photocatalytic property is reported. The OV synergizes with carbon to enhance the production of both hydroxyl radicals ( OH) and superoxide radicals ( O 2 − ), while grey BiOBr (G-BiOBr) with only OV can just tend to undergo oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), due to the competitive adsorption relationship between H 2 O and O 2 . Therefore, the existence of carbon can enhances and equalizes the light-induced redox reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation reaction. FT-IR results show no organic matter characteristic peak on catalyst after photocatalysis for all samples. However, the B-BiOBr with carbon can more quickly remove contaminants from the solution than common white BiOBr (W-BiOBr) and G-BiOBr, due to the integrated adsorption and photodegradation.