Noble metals (Pd, Ag, Pt, and Au) doped bismuth oxybromide photocatalysts for improved visible light-driven catalytic activity for the degradation of phenol.

The doping of noble metals onto the semiconductor metal oxides has a great impact on the intrinsic properties of the materials. This present work reports the synthesis of noble metals doped BiOBr microsphere by a solvothermal method. The various characteristic findings reveal the effective incorporation of Pd, Ag, Pt, and Au onto the BiOBr and the performance of synthesized samples was test for the degradation of phenol over visible light. The Pd-doped BiOBr material showed enhanced phenol degradation efficacy, which is ∼4-fold greater than pure BiOBr. This improved activity was on reason of good photon absorption, lower recombination rate, and higher surface area facilitated by surface plasmon resonance. Moreover, Pd-doped BiOBr sample displayed good reusability and stability after 3 cycles of run. A plausible charge transfer mechanism for phenol degradation is disclosed in detail over Pd-doped BiOBr sample. Our findings disclose that the incorporation of noble metal as the electron trap is a feasible approach to enhance visible light activity of BiOBr photocatalyst used in phenol degradation. This work represents new vision interested in the outline and development of noble metal doped semiconductor metal oxides as a visible light material for the elimination of colorless toxins from untreated wastewater.