Controlled synthesis of {001} facets-dominated dye-sensitized BiOCl with high photocatalytic efficiency under visible-light irradiation

High-quality BiOCl with {001} facets were successfully synthesized via a facile solvothermal method by controlling the volume ratio of ethanol (ET) and ethylene glycol (EG). The diameters of BiOCl nanosheets with {001} facets varied from 600 to 50 nm with the increase of EG content while the thickness nearly remained the same (similar to 20 nm). In the meantime, the morphologies of BiOCl turned into 3D hierarchical microspheres from 2D nanosheets. The 91.84 %{001} facets-exposed BiOCl nanosheets with diameter of 300-600 nm exhibited the best photocatalytic activity for the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under visible-light irradiation on account of the strong adsorption property of the effective electron injection as well as the sequent reactive radical formation. More importantly, the RhB-sensitized BiOCl nanosheets showed effective photocatalytic property for breaking down methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) while RhB keeping almost intact until MB and MO had been photodegraded. It was found that the sensitizer radical cation (center dot RhB+) could react with MB and MO and their suitable redox potential confirms that as well. These findings may provide a promising approach method for synthesizing other metal oxyhalide materials with controllable diameters of nanosheets and deepen our comprehending for the role of the semiconductor in the sensitization process.