Big-leaf hydrangea-like Bi2S3-BiOBr sensitized TiO2 nanotube arrays with enhanced photoelectrocatalytic performance

Abstract TiO2 nanoparticles as solar cells and photocatalysts caused extensive attention in solar energy utilization and environment remediation due to the high photoelectrochemical performance. We demonstrated a novel approach to fabricate big-leaf hydrangea-like Bi2S3-BiOBr self-assembled by superthin nanosheets on TiO2 nanotube arrays (TiO2 NTs/B2S3-BiOBr). Results indicated that the Bi2S3-BiOBr co-sensitization showed higher photoelectric conversion efficiency than the single Bi2S3 or BiOBr sensitization. More remarkably, TiO2 NTs/B2S3-BiOBr showed excellent photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) removal of MB, MO, RhB and Cr(VI). The remarkable PEC performance could be attributed to the strong visible light absorption and effective electron transportation at the interface of TiO2/B2S3-BiOBr. The high photoelectrochemical performances indicate that the TiO2 NTs/B2S3-BiOBr could work as potential photoelectric materials for large-scale applications in the photoelectrochemical energy conversion and pollutant removal.