A flower-like metal-organic frameworks fabricated BiOCl heterojunction with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity

The design and construction of appropriate photocatalysts in heterojunction mode is an effective way to improve photocatalytic performance. Herein, a metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) fabricated heterojunction constructed by MOF-902(Ti) and BiOCl (noted as TB) was developed to treat efficiently antibiotic tetracycline (TC) under visible light irradiation. TB exhibits a higher photodegradation ability than MOF-902(Ti) and BiOCl . Various characterization including X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and scanning electron microscope (SEM), etc . verify the formation of TB heterojunction, which improves significantly the visible light response, increases the specific surface area/pore volume, promotes effectively charged carriers separation and transfer, and ultimately enhances greatly the photocatalytic performance. Reactive species trapping demonstrates that·O 2 - , e - , and h + participate cooperatively in the photodegradation of TC. A possible mechanism for the enhanced photocatalytic activity of TB heterojunction is proposed. A metal-organic frameworks fabricated BiOCl (MOF-902(Ti)/BiOCl) heterojunction with an enhanced photocatalytic degradation activity towards tetracycline under visible light irradiation . • A metal organic frameworks fabricated BiOCl heterojunction is facilely constructed. • This heterojunction is suitable for photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline. • This heterojunction improves significantly the visible light response. • This heterojunction promotes effectively charged carriers separation and transfer. • A possible mechanism for enhanced photocatalytic activity is proposed.