Facile hydrolysis synthesis of novel Bi4O5Br2 photocatalyst with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity for the degradation of resorcinol

• Bi4O5Br2 photocatalyst has been synthesized successfully through hydrolysis route.
• Bi4O5Br2 exhibits excellent visible-light-induced activity to resorcinol degradation.
• The excellent photocatalytic activity can be attributed to its narrow band gap.
• Bi4O5Br2 has outstanding chemical stability and high photocatalytic activity.

A novel Bi4O5Br2 nanoparticle photocatalyst had been synthesized successfully through a facile, one-step, and energy-saving hydrolysis route. The band gap energy of as-prepared Bi4O5Br2 semiconductor was 2.0 eV, obviously lower than that of BiOBr. This can be attributed to the adjustment of the valence band maximum. The as-prepared Bi4O5Br2 could efficiently degrade resorcinol under visible light irradiation, and exhibited an enhanced visible light driven photocatalytic activity compared to BiOBr photocatalyst. The photocatalytic activity of Bi4O5Br2 was appropriately 31 times than that of BiOBr sample. In addition, the as-prepared Bi4O5Br2 sample possessed relatively high chemical stability, and this feature will benefit its practical application for the treatment of other organic pollutants.

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