Interfacial chemical bond modulated ultrathin PbBiO2Cl/Bi2O3 Z-scheme heterojunction for promoting charge separation and enhancing photocatalytic activity

Rational design of heterojunction can effectively promote photogenerated charge separation, which is considered to be an effective strategy to enhance the photocatalytic activity. Here, 2D ultrathin PbBiO2Cl/Bi2O3 heterojunction was synthesized in situ by glucose assisted one-step hydrothermal reaction followed by calcination. The theoretical calculations and experimental results indicate that the ultrathin PbBiO2Cl/Bi2O3 heterojunction has a direct Z-scheme band structure modulated by the interfacial chemical bonds of Pb-O and Bi-O, which can significantly improve the charge separation efficiency, thereby enhancing the photocatalytic activity. The full spectrum photocatalytic activity of the ultrathin PbBiO2Cl/Bi2O3 heterojunction is 10 and 30 times higher than that of pristine PbBiO2Cl and Bi2O3, and the visible light photocatalytic activity is 13.5 and 112.3 times higher than that of pristine PbBiO2Cl and Bi2O3, respectively. This work provides a new strategy for in situ construction of ultrathin Z-scheme heterojunction with efficient charge separation modulated by interfacial chemical bonds. (c) 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.