Optical and photocatalytic characteristics of Se-doped h-boron nitride: Experimental assessments and DFT calculations

Band gap engineering by elemental doping has been widely used to adjust the photocatalytic properties of h-BN. In this work, Se-doped h-BN with varied Se doping level are first developed via a heat treatment method. Through a series of experiments and measurements, it is found that the band gap and interlayer spacing of h-BN can be decreased by the incorporation Se. The catalytic property was estimated by the photodegradation of tetracycline hydrochloride under solar light irradiation. Among the modified samples, the optimized 2Se-BN display the highest photocatalytic degradation rate of 78.86% under simulated solar irradiation, which is nearly 1.23 times that of h-BN. It also exhibited reliable recycling photocatalytic activity for the removal of tetracycline hydrochloride. Experimental and theoretical analyses revealed that the introduction of Se can effectively narrow band gap thereby further enhancing light harvesting ability and promote the charge carrier separation of h-BN. This work provides a facile route to synthesize highly efficient Se-doped h-BN photocatalysts for environmental decontamination.