Fabrication of FeOOH/BiOCl Nanocomposites with Enhanced Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract

BiOCl as a two‐dimensional layer ternary oxide semiconductor, has been widely used in energy and environmental area due to its non‐toxicity, price and the good photocatalytic performance. However, BiOCl has a wide bandgap and can only absorb ultraviolet light, which limits its solar energy conversion efficiency for practical application. Herein, we report a facile synthesis of FeOOH/BiOCl nanocomposites by hydrothermal method. The results of XPS and FT‐IR indicated that FeOOH has been loaded on the nanocomposites. The chemical and optical properties of the nanocomposite are well‐characterized. The nanocomposite showed much more excellent photocatalytic performance compared with the individual FeOOH and BiOCl single component. Reactive specie trapping experiment indicated that · O 2– and h + were the two main active species during the photocatalytic process of FeOOH/BiOCl nanocomposites.