Boosting nonradical process in BiOI/BiOCl heterostructure by interface oxygen vacancies

The interface oxygen vacancies (IOVs) not only enormously reduce the transport resistance of photo-generated carriers at the BiOI/BiOCl heterostructure interface but also boost the nonrdical process, and thus the excellent catalytic performance for electrophilicity contaminants (TC-HCl) and insecticidal activity for rotifers were obtained. • IOVs concentration, active species contribution and 1 O 2 forming path were established. • Transport resistance of photo-induced carriers was reduced by appropriate IOVs. • Superior catalytic performance and insecticidal activity due to the boosted nonradical process. • Structure-activity relationship of IOVs concentration and catalytic activity was constructed. Boosting nonradical ( 1 O 2 , e − and h + ) process to enhance the selective degradation for electrophilicity contaminants is an ingenious strategy. Herein, BiOI/BiOCl heterojunction with rational interface oxygen vacancies (IOVs) concentration was successfully synthesized by ultrasonic method. Moreover, multi-characterization and interference experimental unveiled that the appropriate IOVs concentration can not only effectively reduce the transport resistance of photo-induced carriers but also boost the nonradical process. Thus, BOC-5 can remove 84% (20 mg/L) tetracycline hydrochloride (TC-HCl) in 1 h and present wonderful insecticidal performance for rotifers. Simultaneously, the quantitative methods of IOVs concentration, the contribution of the active species to the catalytic performance and the contribution of different 1 O 2 source to the total 1 O 2 were established for the first time. Furthermore, the structure–activity relationship between the IOVs concentration and the catalytic properties was firstly constructed. This work provides an inventive idea to purify water pollutants and disinfestation by boost nonradical process via interface defect engineering.