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Published on: October 5, 2019
High-performance photocatalytic decomposition of PFOA by BiOX/TiO2 heterojunctions: Self-induced inner electric
Xiaoqing Liu1, Xiaoguang Duan2, Teng Bao1
1Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.
Abstract:
BiOX (X = Cl, Br and I) and BiOX/TiO2 photocatalysts were prepared by a facile hydrothermal approach. The BiOX/TiO2 heterojunctions demonstrated significantly enhanced efficiency for photocatalytic decomposition of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) compared with sole BiOX or TiO2. PFOA (10 mg L1) was completely degraded by BiOCl(Br)/TiO2 in 8 h. Moreover, BiOCl/TiO2 attained deep decomposition of PFOA with a high defluorination ratio of 82%. The p-n heterojunctions between BiOX and TiO2 were confirmed by a series of characterizations. The photo-induced holes would migrate from the valance band (VB) of TiO2 to BiOX, driven by the built-in electric field (BIEF) near the interfaces of p-n heterojunctions, the inner electric fields (IEF) in BiOX and the higher VB position of BiOX. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and TEM characterizations indicated that TiO2 combined with BiOX along the [110] facet, which facilitated photo-induced electron transfer in the [001] direction, thus benefiting PFOA decomposition.

