Bismuth oxychloride-mediated and laser-induced efficient reduction of Cr(VI) in aqueous suspensions

[Display omitted] ► Studied a novel combination of laser light and BiOCl. ► ∼95% Cr(VI) was reduced within 30min. ► Structural and compositional stability of BiOCl was studied in detail. The reduction of Cr(VI) was investigated in aqueous suspensions of BiOCl and Degussa P25 using a 355nm laser radiation and conventional lamp. BiOCl showed better photocatalytic activity than Degussa P25 and ∼95% Cr(VI) was reduced within short time (30min) of laser exposure in presence of BiOCl without the use of any additive. Effects of critical parameters, such as laser energy, catalyst amount and chromium concentration on the photocatalytic reduction process were investigated. The photocatalytic removal of metal was fitted to first-order kinetic and reaction rate was estimated. Structural and compositional stability of BiOCl before and after photocatalytic reaction were determined by XRD, Raman, FT-IR, TGA/DSC analyses.