Facile synthesis of BiOCl with extremely superior visible light photocatalytic activity synergistically enhanced by Co doping and oxygen vacancies

In this work, Co doped and oxygen vacancy (OV) contained bismuth oxychloride (Co-BiOCl, Co-BOC) microspheres were facilely synthesized by one-step solvothermal method for significantly enhanced photocatalysis applications. Co ions were uniformly doped into the crystal lattice of BiOCl without apparent change of the crystal structure and micromorphology. The obtained Co-BOC exhibits extremely high photocatalytic efficiency of 98.9% for degrading rhodamine B (RhB) only within 5 min irradiation under visible light, as well as excellent photocatalytic property to treat norfloxacin (NOR) and reduce Cr(VI). Moreover, the Co-BOC remains above 94% photocatalytic efficiency after five cycles with remarkable stability and reusability. It is demonstrated that the superior photocatalytic performance of Co-BOC is mainly attributed to the synergistic effect of Co doping and OVs, which are beneficial to boost the light absorption by forming OV defect levels and facilitating the charge separation owe to the interconversion between Co3+ and Co2+ in BiOCl. The results have proved that Co-BOC could act as an efficient and powerful photocatalyst for practical applications.