Synthesis of Chrysanthemum‐Like BiOBr Microspheres by Structure Induction of Chitosan for Enhancing Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract

AbstractPhotocatalysis is a green technology with important application prospects in environmental fields such as wastewater treatment. Herein, we synthesized chrysanthemum‐like BiOBr microspheres (CLB0.45) by introduction of structure guide and soft‐template. Natural biomass chitosan (CS) in the precursor of BiOBr successfully suppressed the growth of both (001) and (102) lattice planes through the solvent effect, and promoted the exposure of (110) lattice planes that dominated the photocatalytic performance. Significantly, the polymer chains regulated the nanosheets of BiOBr to accurately self‐assemble. The obtained CLB0.45 had narrower band gap and more active sites due to surface defects, and the photocatalysts have higher photo‐electron hole pairs separation efficiency. Additionally, the degradation performance towards rhodamine B (RhB; 99.7 %, 30 min) of the CLB0.45 was increased, which was 4.6 times higher than that of pure BiOBr. The degradation rate of tetracycline (TC) was also excellent (85.3 %). The photodegradation mechanism of CLB0.45 was proposed and verified. In summary, the prepared CLB0.45, obtained through structure guiding and using a soft template, have a promising future in the photocatalytic purification of organic pollutants.