The photocatalytic degradation of diesel by solar light-driven floating BiOI/EP composites

[Display omitted] •One efficient photocatalysis nanocomposites were synthesized by a one-pot simple solvothermal synthesis method.•As a floating photocatalytic material, this nanocomposite is synthesized by depositing one metal semiconductor (BiOI) on the surface of expanded perlite (EP), with high performance of light, low-cost, high photocatalytic efficiency and low biocytoxicity.•This nanocomposite could be reused for the degradation of diesel at least five times. Nowadays, oil spills have occurred frequently, which is seriously harmful to the aquatic wildlife and the ecological environment. The photocatalysis is one important approach to degrade the diesel. The diesel floats on the water surface and is difficult to be removed by direct photocatalysis. However, floating photocatalytic composites can solve this problem. We used one facile solvothermal synthesis method to deposit the metal semiconductor (BiOI) on the expanded perlite (EP) and obtained one efficient photocatalysis nanocomposites, which could float on the water surface with good efficient adsorption and excellent degradation of the diesel. And the experimental results shows a good photocatalytic performance, which is up to 85% of removal rate of the diesel after irradiation for 2 h under simulated sunlight. In addition, this composite is a recycled material (reusing for 5 times) and eco-friendly material with low biotoxicity. As a result, the proposed combination of adsorption and photocatalysis will provide a novel strategy to greatly facilitate the treatment of diesel wastewater.