The solvothermal synthesis and enhanced photocatalytic activity of Zn2+ doped BiOBr hierarchical nanostructures

Abstract

Novel, visible light-induced, Zn-doped BiOBr hierarchical nanostructures were successfully prepared by solvothermal methods. The photocatalytic activity of the samples was evaluated using RhB as the target pollutant. The Zn-doped BiOBr hierarchical nanostructures exhibited significantly enhanced visible light-induced photocatalytic efficiency for the degradation of RhB compared with pure BiOBr. The Zn-doped BiOBr with R_Zn = 0.1 (R_Zn is defined as the atomic ratio of Zn to Bi) showed the highest photocatalytic activity with decolorization efficiency of almost 100% after 15 min. The enhanced photocatalytic ability could be attributed to the efficient separation of photogenerated electron–hole pairs. Moreover, the role of the active species was also evaluated by adding different scavengers during the photodegradation of RhB. A possible mechanism for the enhancement of visible light performance of Zn-doped BiOBr photocatalysts was also proposed on basis of the experimental results.