One pot hydrolysis synthesis of Fe-BiOCl nanoflower photocatalysts with efficient visible light sterilization performance

Visible photocatalytic sterilization as an emerging research area has great potential to mitigate biofouling problems faced by marine underwater facilities. Here, a facile strategy based on the thermodynamic simulation and DFT calculation was developed for the first time by using room-temperature hydrolysis to obtain Fe-BiOCl catalysts with three-dimensional flower-like self-assembled structures. It is indicated the addition of FeCl3·6H2O to the CaCl2 aqueous solution facilitates the ionization of Fe3+ and Bi3+, which could further participate in hydrolysis reactions to form Fe doped BiOCl. Fe-BiOCl shows narrowed band gap of 2.20 eV and large specific surface area of 78.94 m2g-1, it achieved 69.7% degradation of MO in 120 min, and effectively inactivate sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (SOB) cultured in simulated seawater within 2 h of visible light irradiation. This work provides a green route for the industrial preparation of BiOCl catalytic materials for the protection of marine concrete equipment.