Low temperature one-step synthesis of rutile TiO2/BiOCl composites with enhanced photocatalytic activity

The rutile TiO2/BiOCl composites were successfully fabricated by a facile one-step hydrolysis method at low temperature (50 °C). The X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements were employed to characterize the phase structures, morphologies, optical properties, surface areas, and electronic state of the samples. The rutile TiO2/BiOCl composites exhibited higher photocatalytic activity than pure BiOCl and rutile TiO2 for the degradation of phenol under artificial solar light irradiation. In addition, the photocatalytic mechanism has also been investigated and discussed. The enhanced photocatalytic performance of rutile TiO2/BiOCl composites is closely related to the heterojunctions between BiOCl and rutile TiO2, which can not only broaden the light adsorption range of BiOCl but also improve the electron–hole separation efficiency under artificial solar light irradiation.