Insights into the photosensitivity activity of BiOCl under visible light irradiation

In-depth understanding the dye sensitization process over the semiconductor is the key issue for the applications of dye-sensitized solar cells, hydrogen production, and environmental remediation. This work addresses the role of high-quality BiOCl nanoplates in the photosensitization process. It is found that there exists a strong interaction between Rhodamine B and BiOCl nanoplates, which greatly improves the electronic conductivity for interfacial electron injection. The fluorescence emission of Rhodamine B is thus markedly suppressed by the addition of BiOCl suspension, resulting from the electron injection from excited Rhodamine B into the conduction band of BiOCl nanoplates. Moreover, benefitting from the proper conduction band edge potential of BiOCl nanoplates, the injected electrons can be trapped by the surface absorbed O-2 to generate reactive oxygen species, resulting in the high photosensitization activity for the Rhodamine B degradation under visible light irradiation. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.