Fabrication of reduced graphene oxide–BiOCl hybrid material via a novel benzyl alcohol route and its enhanced photocatalytic activity

Reduced graphene oxide (RGO)–BiOCl hybrid materials were prepared by a novel benzyl alcohol route. The formation of uniform RGO–BiOCl hybrids was attributed to the interaction of introduced graphene oxide and BiOCl, which resulted in a selective growth of BiOCl along (110) orientation. The RGO–BiOCl hybrids showed both enhanced visible-light and ultraviolet light photocatalytic activities compared to nano-BiOCl with similar particle size. In particular, the first-order kinetic constant (k) of Rhodamine B on the optimal RGO (0.73 %)–BiOCl hybrid was 2.5 times that on bare nano-BiOCl under visible-light irradiation. For RGO–BiOCl hybrids, RGO probably acted as a photosensitizer in photocatalytic reaction and resulted in the improved visible-light photocatalytic performance. However, RGO was an excellent electron transfer and inhibited the recombination of electron–hole pairs on BiOCl under ultraviolet light.