One-pot fabrication of BiPO/BiS hybrid structures for visible-light driven reduction of hazardous Cr(VI).

For the first time, a novel BiPO/BiS heterostructures with different morphologies have been fabricated through a facile and rapid one pot precipitation route followed by anion-exchange strategy for the photoreduction of toxic Cr(VI) to harmless Cr (III). The hybrid structures systematically investigated using XRD, FE-SEM, EDS, TEM, HRTEM, XPS, FT-IR, UV-vis DRS, and PL. Changing the solvent type has a significant role for controllable morphologies of BiPO/BiS hybrid as well as the catalytic activity. The BiPO/BiS hybrid synthesized in diethylene glycol (DEG) performed the highest reduction efficiency of Cr(VI) within 20 min, compared with pure hexagonal phase of BiPO under visible light. The rate constant for BiPO/BiS synthesized in DEG found to be 20.3 times larger than that for pure BiPO. In addition, the presence of tartaric acid as hole scavenger could enhance the Cr(VI) reduction efficiency to 97.9%. No significant decrease in the catalytic efficiency after recycling up to four cycles. This promising study could present a significant approach towards Cr(VI) photoreduction from water through the novel BiPO/BiS photocatalyst.