Atomically thin Bi/Bi4Ti3O12 heterojunction mediated increasing active photogenerated carriers for boosting photocatalytic activity

Tong Liu; Zhiyuan Cheng; Tian Shi; Shenghong Yang; Yueli Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2022.01.048

Atomically thin Bi/Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂ heterojunction mediated increasing active photogenerated carriers for boosting photocatalytic activity

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2022 May:613:625-635. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.01.048. Epub 2022 Jan 10.

Authors

Tong Liu¹, Zhiyuan Cheng¹, Tian Shi¹, Shenghong Yang¹, Yueli Zhang²

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering/School of Physics, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering/School of Physics, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China. Electronic address: stszyl@mail.sysu.edu.cn.

PMID: 35065436
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.01.048

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors play an essential role in the field of photocatalytic repairing environment on account of their unique electronic structure and ultra-high specific surface area. Here, a 1-2-layer 2D ultrathin Bi/Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂ (BTO-U-B2) heterojunction photocatalyst is constructed, and the delivery mechanism of electronic is proposed based on photoelectric performance and theoretical calculation results. The efficiency of separation, transfer and recombination of photogenerated carriers is considerably improved due to the enhanced internal electric field, shorter transfer distance and the introduction of electron traps, respectively. Moreover, bisphenol A (BPA) degradation rate of BTO-U-B2 heterojunction under xenon lamp is 9.06 and 2.57 times higher than that of Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂ microplates and nanosheets, respectively. The enhanced photocatalytic activity benefits from the synergistic effect of 2D ultrathin structure and surface heterojunction. Additionally, the photocatalysis test are performed by replacing different environmental solutions and various organic pollutants, and results reveal that this heterojunction has a certain applicability. This work provides a deep insight into designing efficient 2D heterojunction photocatalysis.

Keywords: Bi/Bi(4)Ti(3)O(12) 2D ultrathin heterojunction; Charge separation; Degradation; Internal electric field; Photocatalytic.