Facile synthesis of hierarchical Mo-doped S/BiOCl heterostructured spheres and its excellent photo/thermocatalytic activity under near room temperature

Hierarchical Mo-doped S/BiOCl (MSB) heterostructures were successfully prepared by a facile one-step reflux method. The resulting samples were evaluated by XRD, SEM, TEM, DRS and XPS. The results obtained showed that MSB possessed an outstanding photo and/or thermocatalytic performance under near room-temperature for removal of methylene blue (MB), reaching up to 99.9 and 96.5% for photo/thermocatalytic degradation (PTD) and thermocatalytic degradation (TD), respectively. The hole/radical scavenger tests indicated holes and free radial were both participated in PTD and TD reactions, but the holes formed from degradation reactions were strongly considered as the most influential impact on conducting PTD and TD patterns rather than free radicals. Furthermore, the kinetics regarding PTD and TD routes were also monitored, preferentially fitting to Langmuir-Hinshelwood behavior. Briefly, this study may provide new insights into fabricating hierarchical heterostructures by in-suit one-step approach for decontamination of organic pollutants separately using PTD or TD. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.