One-pot integration of S-doped BiOCl and ZnO into type-II photocatalysts: Simultaneously boosting bulk and surface charge separation for enhanced antibiotic removal

• One-pot integration of S-doped BiOCl and ZnO into a type-II photocatalyst was achieved. • The ZnO/S-doped BiOCl composite displays a remarkably improved visible light-driven photocatalytic activity. • The enhanced photocatalytic principle for antibiotic removal was discussed in detail. Ameliorating the charge separation behavior of photocatalysts is urgent and promising in current investigation of solar light-driven antibiotic removal. Herein, we introduce a facile hydrothermal approach for one-pot integration of sulfur-doped BiOCl (denoted as S-BiOCl) and ZnO into type-II photocatalysts (denoted as ZnO/S-BiOCl). The as-prepared ZnO/S-BiOCl exhibits an appealing removal rate for antibiotic (including tetracycline (TC) and tetracycline hydrochloride (TC-HCl)) in comparison with ZnO/BiOCl composites, individual S-BiOCl and ZnO. This satisfactory performance could be ascribed to the synergic effect of S dopant level in band gap of BiOCl and type-II heterojunctions between S-BiOCl and ZnO for simultaneously boosting charge separation in both bulk and surface. This work can afford an ingenious strategy in constructing high-performance BiOCl-based photocatalysts coupled heterojunction engineering with element doping engineering for antibiotic removal.