A Novel Heterostructure of BiOI Nanosheets Anchored onto MWCNTs with Excellent Visible-Light Photocatalytic Activity.
Developing efficient visible-light-driven (VLD) photocatalysts for environmental decontamination has drawn significant attention in recent years. Herein, we have reported a novel heterostructure of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) coated with BiOI nanosheets as an efficient VLD photocatalyst, which was prepared via a simple solvothermal method. The morphology and structure were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), and specific surface area measurements. The results showed that BiOI nanosheets were well deposited on MWCNTs. The MWCNTs/BiOI composites exhibited remarkably enhanced photocatalytic activity for the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB), methyl orange (MO), andpara-chlorophenol (4-CP) under visible-light, compared with pure BiOI. When the MWCNTs content is 3 wt %, the MWCNTs/BiOI composite (3%M-Bi) achieves the highest activity, which is even higher than that of a mechanical mixture (3 wt % MWCNTs + 97 wt % BiOI). The superior photocatalytic activity is predominantly due to the strong coupling interface between MWCNTs and BiOI, which significantly promotes the efficient electron-hole separation. The photo-induced holes (h⁺) and superoxide radicals (O₂-) mainly contribute to the photocatalytic degradation of RhB over 3%M-Bi. Therefore, the MWCNTs/BiOI composite is expected to be an efficient VLD photocatalyst for environmental purification.
Innovation & Application Institute, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan 316022, China. lishijie@zjou.edu.cn.|Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Health Risk Factors for Seafood, Zhoushan Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Zhoushan 316021, China. lishijie@zjou.edu.cn.
Shijie
S
Li
Innovation & Application Institute, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan 316022, China. hushiweihai@163.com.
Shiwei
S
Hu
State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Research Center for Analysis and Measurement, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China. xukaibing@dhu.edu.cn.
Kaibing
K
Xu
Innovation & Application Institute, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan 316022, China. jiangwei19871216@163.com.
Wei
W
Jiang
State Environmental Protection Engineering Center for Pollution Treatment and Control in Textile Industry, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China. liujianshe@dhu.edu.cn.
Jianshe
J
Liu
State Environmental Protection Engineering Center for Pollution Treatment and Control in Textile Industry, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China. zhaohuiwang@dhu.edu.cn.|International Centre for Balanced Land Use (ICBLU), the University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia. zhaohuiwang@dhu.edu.cn.
Zhaohui
Z
Wang
MWCNTs/BiOI; nanocomposites; photocatalysis; visible-light