Construction of Ternary Bismuth-Based Heterojunction by Using (BiO) 2 CO 3 as Electron Bridge for Highly Efficient Degradation of Phenol.

Inspired by nature, it has been considered an effective approach to design artificial photosynthetic system by fabricating Z-scheme photocatalysts to eliminate environmental issues and alleviate the global energy crisis. However, the development of low cost, environment-friendly, and high-efficient photocatalysts by utilizing solar energy still confronts huge challenge. Herein, we constructed a Bi 2 O 3 /(BiO) 2 CO 3 /Bi 2 MoO 6 ternary heterojunction via a facile solvothermal method and calcination approach and used it as a photocatalyst for the degradation of phenol. The optimized Bi 2 O 3 /(BiO) 2 CO 3 /Bi 2 MoO 6 heterojunction delivers a considerable activity for phenol photodegradation with an impressive removal efficiency of 98.8 % and about total organic carbon (TOC) of 68 % within 180 min under visible-light irradiation. The excellent photocatalytic activity was ascribed to the formation of a Z-scheme heterojunction, more importantly, the presence of (BiO) 2 CO 3 as an electron bridge greatly shortens the migration distance of photogenerated electron from E CB of Bi 2 O 3 to E VB of Bi 2 MoO 6 , thus prolonging the lifetime of photogenerated electrons, which is verified by trapping experiments, electron spin-resonance spectroscopy (ESR) results, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. This work provides a potential strategy to fabricate highly efficient Bi-based Z-scheme photocatalysts with wide application prospects in solar-to-fuel conversion and environmental protection.