Enhanced visible light photocatalytic property of red phosphorus via surface roughening

• Photocatalytic RhB degradation of red phosphorus was studied for the first time.
• Surface rough can increase the photocatalysis reaction active sites.
• Surface rough red phosphorus possesses high photocatalytic performance.
• Surface rough red phosphorus has high industrial application value.

Red phosphorus with rough surface (SRP) was prepared by catalyst-assisted hydrothermal synthesis using Co2+ catalyst. The photocatalytic Rhodamine B (RhB) degradation of red phosphorus (RP) and SRP was studied for the first time in this work. Rough surface can enhance the dye adsorption ability of RP. About 75% RhB was absorbed by SRP after 30-min adsorption in 100 ml RhB solution with concentration of 10 mg l−1 in dark. After only 10 min of illumination by visible light, more than 95% RhB was degraded, indicating that SRP has a great application potential in the area of photocatalysis. The photocatalytic RhB degradation properties of RP are much weaker than those of SRP. The increase of the number of the active sites for the photocatalytic reactions, the electron mobility and the lifetime of the photogenerated electrons cause the significant improvement of the photocatalytic performance of SRP based on the experimental results obtained.

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