Facile fabrication of plate-like Bi3O4Cl for visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride

Novel visible (vis)-light-driven Bi3O4Cl plates were first prepared via a facile method. The structure, morphology, and photo absorption properties of as-prepared Bi3O4Cl were characterised by multiple physicochemical techniques. Tetracycline hydrochloride (TC-HCl), a famous broad-spectrum antibiotic, was used to evaluate the photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared samples. Compared to the BiOCl and solid-state reaction synthesised Bi3O4Cl, the plate-like Bi3O4Cl exhibited highly improved vis-light-driven photoreactivity toward TC-HCl degradation under aqueous solution. Moreover, the Bi3O4Cl plates also displayed excellent photochemical stability even after four times photocatalytic recycling tests. This work provides a simple approach to fabricate the novel Bi-based semiconductor for potential application in treatment of antibiotic pollutant.