Solvothermal-Assisted Synthesis of Biomass Carbon Quantum Dots/Bismuth Oxyiodide Microflower for Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity

In this paper, the biomass carbon quantum dots (CQDs) modified flower-like BiOI (CQDs/BiOI) composite photocatalyst was synthesized by a facile solvothermal method. Compared with the pristine BiOI, the biomass CQDs/BiOI exhibited outstanding photocatalytic activity for degradation of the typical methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation since the biomass CQDs could act as electron acceptors to effectively facilitate the separation effciency of photon-generated carriers and prolong their lifetime. Furthermore, the mechanism detection experiment showed that the center dot O-2(-) and H+ were major activity species, and the photocatalytic electron transfer mechanism was further investigated. This work provided a new insight into biomass CQDs effects and took an important step toward the development of improving Bi-based semiconductor photocatalyst activity.