Plasmon Bi in-situ anchored on BiOCl nanosheets assembled microspheres towards optimized photothermal-photocatalytic performance

Interface engineering is of great importance to improve the photocatalytic performance. Herein, in-situ formation plasmon Bi/BiOCl nanosheets assembled heterojunction microspheres are fabricated via facile reductive solvothermal approach. The aldehyde group in the DMF structure is used to exert the weak reducing property of the solvent and thus strip out the metal Bi in BiOCl. The metal Bi is anchored on surface of BiOCl firmly due to in-situ formation engineered interface, which could realize efficient charge transfer channel. The resultant Bi/BiOCl heterojunctions assemblies with narrow bandgap of 3.05 eV and mesoporous structure extend the photoresponse to visible light region and could provide sufficient surface active sites. The visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of high-toxic norfloxacin for Bi/BiOCl heterojunctions is up to 95.5% within 20 min, representing several times that of pristine BiOCl nanosheets and the physical mixture. It is attributed to the in-situ formation of Bi/BiOCl heterojunctions and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of plasmon Bi promoting charge transfer, and the obvious photothermal effect promoting the photocatalytic reaction, which are verified by experimental and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. This strategy provides ideal perspectives for fabricating metal/semiconductor heterojunctions photocatalysts with high-performance.