Effect of temperature and EDTA-Na complexing agent on the synthesis of BiOCl for photocatalytic NOx removal
摘要
Herein, we report the photocatalytic removal of nitric oxide (NO) using bismuth oxychloride (BiOCl) photocatalysts synthesized via a rapid microwave-assisted coprecipitation method. The BiOCl samples were prepared to evaluate the effects of the complexing agent, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt (EDTA-Na), and the reaction temperature on the morphology and photocatalytic performance of the semiconductor. The results revealed that low concentrations of EDTA-Na promoted the formation of BiOCl nanoplates, whereas higher concentrations of the complexing agent resulted in the formation of microspheres. Likewise, the intensity ratio of the I(110)/I(102) diffraction peaks increased with higher EDTA-Na content, suggesting the preferential exposure of (110) crystal facets. The surface area of BiOCl was found to be closely related to its photocatalytic activity, achieving up to 92% NO removal after 1 h of UV–vis irradiation. Moreover, the photocatalytic oxidations process was selective, yielding 98.1% nitrate ions (NO3−) and only 0.65% nitrite ions (NO2−) as products. BiOCl was able to maintain its photocatalytic activity after four consecutive cycles, confirming its chemical stability. Scavenger experiments confirmed that superoxide radicals played a key role in NO removal.