NaOH and temperature-induced formation of Bi-based BixOyBrz photocatalyst for phenol degradation

In this work, Bi-based BixOyBrz photocatalyst including BiOBr, Bi2O3/Bi4O5Br2, BiOBr/Bi4O5Br2 and Bi4O5Br2 were successfully prepared by adding NaOH and controlling reaction temperature. BiOBr/Bi4O5Br2 composite displayed excellent photocatalytic activity for phenol degradation compared with other Bi-based BixOyBrz photocatalyst. Toxicity experiments suggested that low environmental toxicity of BiOBr/Bi4O5Br2 composite for the growth state of Sudangrass seeds and Mung bean seeds. A BiOBr/Bi4O5Br2 S-scheme heterojunction was pro-posed to explain the photocatalytic degradation mechanism.