Facile construction of novel Co3O4/Bi12O17Cl2 heterojunction composites with enhanced photocatalytic performance

Highlights: • Co₃O₄/Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂ photocatalyst have been prepared for the first time. • The improved photocatalytic performance was gained over Co₃O₄/Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂ photocatalyst. • Co₃O₄/Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂ photocatalyst might keep excellent sustained degraded ability. • A reasonable photocatalytic mechanism over Co₃O₄/Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂ catalyst was revealed. A novel Co₃O₄/Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂ heterojunction catalyst has been constructed for the first time via a sample hydrothermal course. The chemical, optical and physical properties of as-constructed materials were examined by XRD, XPS, TEM, and DRS methods. These results demonstrated that Co₃O₄ nanoparticles evenly dispersed on Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂ flakes, forming heterojunction nanostructure. When Co₃O₄/Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂ photocatalyst was used for degrading rhodamine b (RhB), the best Co₃O₄/Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂ sample (0.122 min⁻¹) exhibited 2.5 folds higher rate constant than bare Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂ (0.048 min⁻¹), which owed to the collaborative interactions of heterojunction between Co₃O₄ and Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂, accelerating validly the separation of photo-generated carriers, boosting visible light absorbance. Simultaneously, various radical scavenger tests indicated that ·O₂⁻ and h⁺ were prime parts for heightening activity. Eventually, depending on the above experimental conclusions, a photocatalytic mechanism was presented for the Co₃O₄/Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂ heterojunction.