Synthesis and Visible Light Catalytic Performance of BiOI/Carbon Nanofibers Heterojunction

Semiconductor materials as photocatalysts hold great prospects for renewable energy substitutes and environmental protection. Nanostructured BiOX (X=Cl, Br, I) with favorable features of a unique layered crystal structure and suitable band gaps has been demonstrated to be a promising photocatalytic material. In this paper, a two-step synthesis route combining an electrospinning technique and SILAR reaction has been accepted as a straightforward protocol for the exploitation of BiOI/carbon nanofibers’ (CNFs) hierarchical heterostructures. As expected, the BiOI/CNFs presented a much higher degradation rate of methyl orange than that of the pure BiOI under visible light. The degradation rate of methyl orange reaches 85% within 210 min. The enhanced photocatalytic activity could be attributed to the fact that conductive CNFs as substrate could effectively improve the separation and transformation of photogenerated charges. Moreover, the fabricated BiOI/CNFs after five cycles could be easily recycled without a decrease in photocatalytic activity due to their ultra-long one-dimensional nano-structural property.