Ternary structural assembly of BiOCl/TiO/clinoptilolite composite: Study of coupled mechanism and photocatalytic performance.

Novel BiOCl/TiO/clinoptilolite composite was prepared via a homogeneous precipitation and calcination-crystallization process in this study. Through structural design and spatial assembly, the ternary composite based on clinoptilolite layer as well as the TiO nano particles and BiOCl nano sheets was successfully synthesized. The prepared composite was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), N isothermal adsorption-desorption test and electrochemical measurement, respectively. Compared with bare photocatalysts (i.e. TiO and BiOCl), the composite exhibited enhanced photoactivity under visible light irradiation towards rhodamine B (RhB). Based on the pseudo-first-order kinetic constants, the photocatalytic performance of BiOCl/TiO/clinoptilolite composite is around 48 and 11 times higher than that of pure TiO and BiOCl, respectively. The enhanced photocatalytic properties of the composite should be attributed to the improved adsorption ability and the formation of the n-p heterojunction between BiOCl and TiO, which is beneficial to establish the rapid adsorption-desorption system and promote the efficient separation of the photogenerated electron-hole pairs. The excellent visible-light-driven performance makes the BiOCl/TiO/clinoptilolite composite possible to be utilized in the field of industrial wastewater treatment.