The Contrastive Research in the Photocatalytic Activity of BiOBr Synthesized by Different Reactants
BiOBr nanoplates, marked asα-BiOBr andβ-BiOBr, were synthesized via hydrothermal method using cetylpyridinium bromide (CPB) and NaBr as reactants, respectively. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), N2adsorption/desorption, UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS), and cyclic voltammetry (CV) were employed to characterize the obtained BiOBr. The results showed thatα-BiOBr andβ-BiOBr can absorb visible light and both the band gaps of them were about 2.76 eV. Under visible light irradiation, the photodegradation of organic dye sulforhodamine (SRB) and salicylic acid (SA) usingα-BiOBr andβ-BiOBr as the catalysts was carried out. The reaction kinetic constants of the degradation of SRB byα-BiOBr andβ-BiOBr were 0.00602 min−1and 0.0047 min−1, respectively, which indicated that the photocatalytic activity ofα-BiOBr was higher than that ofβ-BiOBr. The UV-Vis DRS and total organic carbon (TOC) were also monitored, and the TOC removal rate ofα-BiOBr andβ-BiOBr was 86% and 48%, respectively. At the same time, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and active radicals were measured and analyzed, which showed that the main active species wasOH∙during the photocatalytic reaction.