Co Dopant Anchored in the Bioio3 Nanosheets to Induce Oxygen Vacancies for Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract

BiOIO3 has a broad prospect photocatalytic oxidation, but the overall efficiency of photocatalysis is not satisfactory due to the short carrier lifetime and the easy recombination of electron-hole pairs generated during its photochemical process. To address these issues, Co2+-doped BiOIO3 photocatalysts were successfully prepared using a hydrothermal method by induce oxygen vacancies to enhanced photocatalytic activity of the photocatalysts. The Co-doped BiOIO3 photocatalysts exhibited high photocatalytic mercury removal efficiencies of up to 91.0% in the photocatalytic removal experiments of gaseous mercury, and compared with the previous studies, the preparation process of Co ion-doped BiOIO3 photocatalysts was more economical and simple, and had higher photocatalytic efficiency. The optimal doping ratio sample could still reach 83. 58% after a long-term photocatalytic experiment of up to 660 min, which proves that the Co ion-doped BiOIO3 photocatalyst has good stability. The energy band structure of Co-doped photocatalysts was analyzed using density-functional theory (DFT), and the mechanism of photocatalyst activity enhancement by Co-doping was proposed in conjunction with experimental characterization. The findings of this research provide a valuable reference for future investigations on the coupling of transition metal ions with photocatalysts, and establishes a strong foundation for for multivariate coupling or bimetallic ion doping of the three, and offers a realistic technological path for the creation of highly stable and effective photocatalysts used to remediate air pollution.

Keywords: photocatalysis, Hg0 removal, oxygen vacancy, BiOIO3, Doping of Cobalt