Oxygen vacancies mediated Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂ ultrathin nanobelts: Boosting molecular oxygen activation for efficient organic...

Photocatalysis technology has been considered as a sustainable and promising strategy for pollutant degradation. However, the photocatalytic activity is limited by the unsatisfactory carrier separation efficiency of photocatalysts and insufficient reactive oxygen species. Herein, the oxygen vacancies (OVs) mediated Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂ ultra-thin nanobelt (ROV Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂) was fabricated via solvothermal method. The surface oxygen vacancies can act as the 'electron sink' and boost charge separation. Thus, the ROV Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂ shows superior photocatalytic performance, which is 2.72 and 4.52 times compared to deficient oxygen vacancies Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂ (DOV Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂) and Bulk Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂ for colored organic pollutants degradation, respectively. Besides, the ROV Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂ also displays excellent removal efficiency for refractory antibiotics, roughly 4.00 and 7.45 times compared to that of DOV Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂ and Bulk Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂, respectively. Furthermore, the intermediates for photocatalytic degradation were determined through HPLC-MS and the possible degradation paths of the target molecules were inferred. Capture experiment and ESR spectra confirmed that the ^•O₂^- played a vital role for the organic pollutant degradation. This work provides a new perspective for the design of advanced semiconductors for organic pollutants degradation.