WO3/BiOCl, a novel heterojunction as visible light photocatalyst

A bismuth oxychloride (BiOCl) nanostructure is prepared by a new low temperature route using sodium dodecyl sulfate as template and urea as hydrolytic agent. A novel heterojunction is developed between BiOCl and tungsten oxide (WO(3)) to make it an efficient visible light photocatalyst. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis, Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and N(2) sorption isotherms. The WO(3)/BiOCl heterojunction system extends the absorption edge to the visible region efficiently. BiOCl works as a main photocatalyst while WO(3) acts as the photosensitizer absorbing visible light in the WO(3)/BiOCl composite. The individual BiOCl and WO(3) show very low photocatalytic efficiency under visible light irradiation but their heterojunction provides unexpectedly high efficiency in decomposing rhodamine B as compared to Degussa P25, pure BiOCl, and WO(3).