Construction of Ternary Bismuth-Based Heterojunction by Using (BiO) CO as Electron Bridge for Highly Efficient Degradation of Phenol.

Inspired by nature, it has been considered an effective approach to design artificial photosynthetic system by fabricating Z-scheme photocatalysts to eliminate environmental issues and alleviate the global energy crisis. However, the development of low cost, environment-friendly, and high-efficient photocatalysts by utilizing solar energy still confronts huge challenge. Herein, we constructed a Bi O /(BiO) CO /Bi MoO ternary heterojunction via a facile solvothermal method and calcination approach and used it as a photocatalyst for the degradation of phenol. The optimized Bi O /(BiO) CO /Bi MoO heterojunction delivers a considerable activity for phenol photodegradation with an impressive removal efficiency of 98.8 % and about total organic carbon (TOC) of 68 % within 180 min under visible-light irradiation. The excellent photocatalytic activity was ascribed to the formation of a Z-scheme heterojunction, more importantly, the presence of (BiO) CO as an electron bridge greatly shortens the migration distance of photogenerated electron from E of Bi O to E of Bi MoO , thus prolonging the lifetime of photogenerated electrons, which is verified by trapping experiments, electron spin-resonance spectroscopy (ESR) results, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. This work provides a potential strategy to fabricate highly efficient Bi-based Z-scheme photocatalysts with wide application prospects in solar-to-fuel conversion and environmental protection.