Construction of 2D/2D layered g-C(3)N(4)/Bi(12)O(17)Cl(2) hybrid material with matched energy band structure and its improved photocatalytic performance

A series of visible-light-induced 2D/2D layered g-C(3)N(4)/Bi(12)O(17)Cl(2) composite photocatalysts were successfully synthesized by a one step chemical precipitation method with g-C(3)N(4), BiCl(3) and NaOH as the precursors at room temperature and characterized through XRD, FTIR, XPS, TEM, BET and UV-vis DRS measurements. The results of XRD, FTIR and XPS indicated that g-C(3)N(4) has been introduced in the Bi(12)O(17)Cl(2) system. The TEM image demonstrated that there was strong surface-to-surface contact between 2D g-C(3)N(4) layers and Bi(12)O(17)Cl(2) nanosheets, which contributed to a fast transfer of the interfacial electrons, leading to a high separation rate of photoinduced charge carriers in the g-C(3)N(4)/Bi(12)O(17)Cl(2) system. Rhodamine B was considered as the model pollutant to investigate the photocatalytic activity of the resultant samples. The g-C(3)N(4)/Bi(12)O(17)Cl(2) composite showed a clearly improved photocatalytic degradation capacity compared to bare g-C(3)N(4) and Bi(12)O(17)Cl(2), which was ascribed to the interfacial contact between the 2D g-C(3)N(4) layers and Bi(12)O(17)Cl(2) sheet with a matched energy band structure, promoting the photoinduced charges' efficient separation. Finally, combined with the results of the trapping experiment, ESR measurements and the band energy analysis, a reasonable photocatalytic mechanism over the 2D/2D layered g-C(3)N(4)/Bi(12)O(17)Cl(2) composite was proposed.