Short communicationConstructing BiO1.1Br0.8 sheet-sphere junction structure for efficient photocatalytic degradation of aniline

•BiO1.1Br0.8 sheet-sphere junction structure was successfully constructed.•The mechanisms of greatly enhanced photoactivity of BiO1.1Br0.8 were revealed.•This work gives a promising method for the design of more practical photocatalysts.

A sheet-sphere junction structure photocatalyst, BiO1.1Br0.8 was successfully synthesized by calcining BiOBr at 500 °C for 7 h. The BiO1.1Br0.8 exhibited apparently enhanced photocatalytic activity in comparison with BiOBr. About 90% of aniline (50 mL, 50 mg L− 1) was degraded over BiO1.1Br0.8 (1 g L− 1) after LED light irradiation for 4 h. Photocurrent and photoluminescence spectra analyses demonstrated that separation efficiency of photogenerated electron-hole pairs in BiO1.1Br0.8 was much higher than that in BiOBr, which greatly improved its photocatalytic activity. The increased pore size of BiO1.1Br0.8 was beneficial for projecting light into pore, which promoted the photocatalytic degradation of aniline.

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