Enhanced UV–Vis photocatalytic activity of SrBiO2Cl through La doping

The introduction of La into SrBiO2Cl can significantly reduce the band gap, extend the photoresponse to the visible region, and promote carrier separation efficiency, resulting in enhancing overall photocatalytic activity under UV–Vis light irradiation. [Display omitted] •Pure and La-doped SrBiO2Cl were successfully prepared by solid state method.•Compared with pure SrBiO2Cl, La-doped SrBiO2Cl exhibited higher photocatalytic activity under UV–Vis light irradiation.•Both theoretical calculations and experimental measurements reveal the enhanced mechanism.•The enhanced of photocatalytic activity is attributed to the reduction of band gap, the expansion of optical response range and the improvement of carrier separation efficiency caused by La doping. SrBiO2Cl has limited photocatalytic activity due to its wide band gap and narrow light response range. In this study, the UV–Vis activated photocatalysts La-doped SrBiO2Cl were successfully prepared by solid state reaction. The experimental results and theoretical calculations revealed that La doping into SrBiO2Cl can significantly reduce the band gap, expand the light absorption range to the visible region and promote carrier separation efficiency. Owing to the synergistic promotion effect, the optimal SrBiO2Cl-3%La exhibited obviously enhanced photodegradation rate, which was about 2.52 times higher than that of pure SrBiO2Cl under UV–Vis light irradiation. In addition, the main active species and a possible mechanism of La-doped SrBiO2Cl for the enhanced photocatalytic performance were deeply discussed. Cyclic experiment exhibited that La-doped SrBiO2Cl can be an excellent stability photocatalyst for environmental protection.