Graphene Oxide-BiOCl Nanoparticle Composites as Catalysts for Oxidation of Volatile Organic Compounds in Nonthermal Plasmas

The construction of a nonthermal plasma (NTP)-catalysts system is an efficient strategy for purifying organic waste gas. Up to now, developing stable, efficient, and environmental-friendly catalysts for NTP facility was still a challenge. Here, we present a novel graphene oxide (GO)-BiOCl nanocomposite as a nanocatalyst applied in a NTP system for the degradation of acetone. It is found that the selective crystal orientation deposition of BiOCl(001) on GO can greatly enhance the oxidation rate to 89.94%. Three effects contribute to this high catalytic activity: (1) BiOCl nanosheets boost strong attenuation capability for high-energy electrons; hence, they may be an excellent complement for utilizing abundant of energetic electrons offered by NTP. (2) GO works as a bridge to accelerate the migration of excited electrons and reduce the probability of quenching. (3) The interface design of GO-BiOCl(001) ensures the maximum electron-transfer kinetics by increasing the transfer rate and shortening the migration distance. This work provides important insights for exploiting effective catalysts for NTP system and promoting the performance of the whole system for environmental remediation.