Improved visible light photocatalytic properties of Fe/BiOCl microspheres synthesized via self-doped reactable ionic liquids

Abstract

Fe/BiOCl porous microspheres have been synthesized through an ethylene glycol (EG)-assisted solvothermal process in the presence of a self-doped reactable ionic liquid 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrachloroferrate ([Omim]FeCl₄). During the reaction process, [Omim]FeCl₄ acted not only as Cl and Fe sources but also as the soft-template for the synthesis of the Fe/BiOCl porous microspheres. Additionally, The Fe/BiOCl porous microsphere photocatalysts show a high efficiency for the degradation of three types of pollutants: heteropolyaromatic methylene blue (MB), phenol rhodamine B (RhB) and bisphenol A (BPA) under visible light irradiation. The results assume that the doping of Fe³⁺ could effectively increase the absorption of the photocatalysts from UV-light to visible light and show a much higher photocatalytic activity than that of the pure BiOCl sample. The enhanced photocatalytic performance could be attributed to the high separation efficiency of the photogenerated electron–hole pairs. A possible mechanism for the photocatalytic activity of Fe/BiOCl on the enhancement of the visible light performance was proposed.