Synthesis of novel Fe-BiOCl based nanosheets assembled rod (FBC-NSR)-based photoactive materials: an effective photodegradation of antibiotics

Fe-incorporated BiOCl-nanosheet assembled rods (FBC-NSR) based photoactive materials were synthesized using a simple sol–gel process to degrade tetracycline (TC) pharmaceuticals compound (PCs) under solar irradiation. The as-prepared FBC-NSR-based photoactive materials were characterized using various characterization techniques including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), photoluminescent (PL) spectroscopic analysis, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The structural changes were observed upon doping of Fe metals within the FBC-NSR-based photoactive materials. Intriguingly, the band gap value decreased from ~ 1.81 eV to ~ 1.29 eV with increasing the amount of Fe metals (0.5 g, and 1.0 g) within the FBC-NSR named as FBC-NSR-2 and FBC-NSR-3-based photoactive materials, respectively. The lower band gap value favors the photodegradation of environmental pollution. The synthesized FBC-NSR-3 shows the highest degradation ~ 97% and ~ 72.1% at 1 mg/L and 10 mg/L TC antibiotic, respectively. The photodegradation was higher at pH 10, indicating •OH radicals play a major role in the photodegradation of TC molecules. PL spectra confirm the higher oxygen vacancy, improved transfer of electrons, and separation efficiency of photo-induced electron hole-pairs, thereby high photodegradation efficiency. Therefore, the preparation of FBC-NSR-based photoactive materials is simple, cost-effective, and promising semiconductor materials for the removal of environmental pollution.