One‐Step Fabrication of 2D/2D Z‐Scheme BiOCl/g‐C3N4 Nanosheets Heterojunction for Efficient Degradation of RhB and Cr(VI) Ions Reduction under Visible‐Light Illumination.

To promote the utilization efficiency of solar energy, a one‐step strategy to fabricate 2D/2D Z‐scheme BiOCl/g‐C3N4 nanosheets (BiOCl/CNs) heterojunction through the in‐situ growth of BiOCl on CNs was studied. Here, we report that ultrathin CNs with wrinkled surface are prepared by a rapid cooling method. The wrinkled surface of CNs provided more active sites for BiOCl to anchor on it thus facilitating the formation of the tight heterojunction structure via a solvothermal process. The as‐prepared BiOCl/CNs hybrid photocatalysts was confirmed by various physicochemical characterizations. The results showed the uniform distribution of BiOCl nanoflakes on g‐C3N4 nanosheets and formation of 2D/2D Z‐scheme heterojunction structure. The as‐prepared BiOCl/CNs‐5 photocatalyst displays extraordinarily photocatalytic activity for the photocatalytic degradation of RhB and Cr(VI) reduction under visible light irradiation, about 94 % RhB and 93 % Cr(VI) was degraded in 100 min. The remarkable photocatalytic properties were attributed to the Z‐scheme hierarchical structure, large specific surface and efficient charge carrier separation. Furthermore, the Z‐scheme photocatalytic reaction mechanism was presented to elucidate the improved photocatalytic activity of BiOCl/CNs photocatalyst. The photodegradation of phenol and radical species trapping experiments were conducted to prove the formation of Z‐scheme. This work provides a facile route for the construction of g‐C3N4 based Z‐scheme structure photocatalyst for efficient visible light photocatalytic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]