In situ synthesis of hierarchical flower-like Bi2S3/BiOCl composite with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity

Abstract Novel BiOCl micro-flower was synthesized by a facile method and used as a precursor to produce Bi2S3/BiOCl composites. The Bi2S3/BiOCl composites, synthesized by in situ etching of BiOCl precursor with thiacetamide (TAA) solution, maintain the hierarchical flower-like structure and exhibit a large surface area. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) were employed to study the structures, morphologies and optical properties of the as-prepared samples. Under visible light (λ > 400 nm), the flower-like Bi2S3/BiOCl composite displayed much higher photocatalytic activity than single Bi2S3, BiOCl and 2D plate-like Bi2S3/BiOCl composite for the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB). The increased photocatalytic activity of Bi2S3/BiOCl could be attributed to the formation of the heterostructure between Bi2S3 and BiOCl and large surface area of the hierarchical structure, which effectively separate the photoinduced electron–hole pairs and suppress their recombination.