Advanced photocatalytic performance of graphene-like BN modified BiOBr flower-like materials for the removal of pollutants and mechanism insight

•Novel graphene-like BN modified BiOBr materials were synthesized via an ionic liquid assisted solvothermal process.•The graphene-like BN modified BiOBr materials exhibited extensively photocatalytic degradation activity under visible light irradiation.•The higher photocatalytic activity was attributed to the enhanced light harvesting ability and higher separation efficiency of photogenerated electron–hole pairs by the modification of graphene-like BN.

Novel graphene-like BN modified BiOBr materials have been synthesized via an ionic liquid assisted solvothermal process. The structure, morphology, optical and electronic properties were explored by the XRD, XPS, FT-IR, SEM, TEM, DRS, PL, EIS and photocurrent. The photocatalytic performance of the graphene-like BN/BiOBr materials was evaluated by the degradation of colorless antibiotic agent ciprofloxacin (CIP), tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) and rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light irradiation. When the mass fraction of graphene-like BN is 1%, the graphene-like BN/BiOBr materials exhibited the highest activity. The enhanced light harvesting ability and higher separation efficiency of photogenerated electron–hole pairs by the modification of graphene-like BN contributed to the higher photocatalytic activity. The photo-degradation is dominant by the O2− and hole oxidation process. This exploration of graphene-like BN modified BiOBr open a window for the use of other graphene-like BN based composites in photocatalysis field.

Graphical abstractNovel graphene-like BN modified BiOBr materials have been synthesized via an ionic liquid assisted solvothermal process. The enhanced light harvesting ability and higher separation efficiency of photogenerated electron–hole pairs by the modification of graphene-like BN contributed to the higher photocatalytic activity.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide