A flower-like metal-organic frameworks fabricated BiOCl heterojunction with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity

The design and construction of appropriate photocatalysts in heterojunction mode is an effective way to improve photocatalytic performance. Herein, a metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) fabricated heterojunction constructed by MOF-902(Ti) and BiOCl (noted as TB) was developed to treat efficiently antibiotic tetracycline (TC) under visible light irradiation. TB exhibits a higher photodegradation ability than MOF-902(Ti) and BiOCl. Various characterization including X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and scanning electron microscope (SEM), etc. verify the formation of TB heterojunction, which improves significantly the visible light response, increases the specific surface area/pore volume, promotes effectively charged carriers separation and transfer, and ultimately enhances greatly the photocatalytic performance. Reactive species trapping demonstrates that·O2-, e-, and h+ participate cooperatively in the photodegradation of TC. A possible mechanism for the enhanced photocatalytic activity of TB heterojunction is proposed. [Display omitted] •A metal organic frameworks fabricated BiOCl heterojunction is facilely constructed.•This heterojunction is suitable for photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline.•This heterojunction improves significantly the visible light response.•This heterojunction promotes effectively charged carriers separation and transfer.•A possible mechanism for enhanced photocatalytic activity is proposed.