Assembled fabrication of α-Fe2O3/BiOCl heterojunctions with enhanced photocatalytic performance

Highlights: • α-Fe₂O₃/BiOCl heterojunctions are fabricated by growing and assembling. • The formation mechanism of the heterojunctions is proposed. • The heterojunctions exhibit enhanced photocatalytic activity. α-Fe₂O₃/BiOCl heterojunctions were synthesized by growing and assembling α-Fe₂O₃ nanoplates to BiOCl microflowers via a two-step route to enhance the photocatalytic performance of BiOCl. The morphology, microstructure, element composition and optical properties of α-Fe₂O₃/BiOCl heterojunctions have been investigated by SEM, TEM, XRD, FT-IR, Raman spectra, XPS, UV–vis diffuse reflectance and PL spectra. Electrostatic interaction was a key to form α-Fe₂O₃/BiOCl heterojunctions. Compared with pure BiOCl, the synthesized α-Fe₂O₃/BiOCl heterojunctions possess an efficient visible light absorption and exhibit an improved of photocatalytic efficiency. A photocatalytic degradation mechanism has been proposed to explain that the heterojunctions enhance the separation efficiency of electron-hole pairs, and the holes are the main reactive species in the degratation of Rhodamine B.