Highly efficient heterogeneous photo-Fenton BiOCl/MIL-100(Fe) nanoscaled hybrid catalysts prepared by green one-step coprecipitation for degradation of organic contaminants

An excellent heterojunction structure is vital for the improvement of photocatalytic performance. In this study, BiOCl/MIL-100(Fe) hybrid composites were prepared via a one-pot coprecipitation method for the first time. The prepared materials were characterized and then used as a photo-Fenton catalyst for the removal of organic pollutants in wastewater. The BiOCl/MIL-100(Fe) hybrid exhibited better photo-Fenton activity than MIL-100(Fe) and BiOCl for RhB degradation; in particular, the hybrid with 50% Bi molar concentration showed the highest efficiency. The excellent performance can be ascribed to the presence of coordinatively unsaturated iron centers, abundant Lewis acid sites, fast H2O2 activation, and efficient carrier separation on BiOCl nanosheets due to the high charge carrier mobility of the nanosheets. The photo-Fenton mechanism was studied, and the results indicated that ˙OH and h+ were the main active species for organic pollutant degradation. The coprecipitation-based hybridization approach presented in this paper opens up an avenue for the sustainable fabrication of photo-Fenton catalysts with abundant coordinatively unsaturated metal centers and efficient electron-hole separation capacity.