Constructing defective (BiO)2CO3 with different dominated facets for efficiently photocatalytic NO oxidization and in situ reaction pathway study

Fast electron transfer, slow charge recombination and low visible light absorption always limit semiconductor photocatalytic materials. Hence, we develop a facile (BiO)₂CO₃ photocatalyst, which possess different dominated facets with oxygen vacancy by one-step hydrothermal synthesis method. The as-prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, electron spin resonance, UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and in situ Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (In situ DRIFTS) spectra. (BiO)₂CO₃ with different crystal structure and dominating facet were obtained and show a better photocatalytic performance of NO removal under visible light irradiation. Our research indicates that dominating facet is more related to the crystal structure, which affects the photocatalytic performance.