Visible-light photoactive BiOCl nanosheets prepared by a solution chemistry method

Sheet-like BiOCl nanostructures were prepared via a facile solution chemistry method at room temperature. It is noteworthy that these BiOCl nanosheets exhibit distinctly superior photoactivity for Rhodamine B (RhB) degradation under visible light irradiation over their counterparts synthesized by solvothermal methods. Mechanistic study revealed that the abundant O2− species on BiOCl nanosheets are responsible for the high activity. The simplicity of the presenting strategy contributes to the construction of efficient photocatalysts and might motivate people to rethink the underlying chemistry in traditional construction strategies.