Sample Fabrication of BiOCl Nanosheets with Low Specific Surface Area for Efficient Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Wastewater

BiOCl photocatalyst with excellent performance has been prepared by a simple liquid–solid phase transition method. Three BiOCl-x (x = 0.5, 0.75, 1.0) photocatalysts were obtained by changing the amount of HCl in the preparation process. The main dominant crystal planes are (001), (002), and (003). Their forbidden bandwidths are reduced to 2.81, 2.89, and 2.84 eV. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffractometer, high-resolution field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier infrared spectrometry, UV–vis diffuse reflection spectrometer, and UV–vis spectrophotometer. The degradation mechanism of BiOCl-x on Rhodamine B(RhB) has been investigated by quenching experiments on active materials. ·O2– was the primary degradation agent. When the dosage of HCl was 0.75 mL, the degradation effect of RhB was the best under the same experimental conditions. In visible light, RhB was almost completely degraded within 15 min, demonstrating an excellent photocatalytic degradation efficiency.