Addition of bismuth subacetate into bismuth citrate as co-precursors to improve the photocatalytic performance of Bi2O3

• Published in: Materials letters 2019-12, Vol.256, p.126642, Article 126642
• Main Authors: Zahid, Abdul Hannan, Zheng, Mengyun, Peng, Maoyuan, Han, Qiaofeng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bismuth oxide; Bismuth oxides; Bismuth trioxide; Calcining; Catalytic activity; Charge efficiency; Electromagnetic absorption; Light irradiation; Malachite green; Materials science; Nanoparticles; Photocatalysis; Rhodamine; Semiconductor
• ISSN: 0167-577X; 1873-4979
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matlet.2019.126642

•Nanosheet-based β-Bi2O3 architecture was prepared by calcining bismuth citrate.•Addition of BiOAc led to β-Bi2O3 with nanoparticle-based porous architecture.•Addition of BiOAc also induced more residual carbon and metal Bi on β-Bi2O3.•The presence of residual carbon and metal Bi results in enhanced photoreactivity. By adding bismuth subacetate (CH3COO(BiO), BiOAc) to bismuth citrate with optimal molar ratio of 1:3 and calcining at 350 °C in air, the resulted nanoparticle-based hollow spherical β-Bi2O3 (H-β-Bi2O3) exhibited greatly enhanced photocatalytic activity in comparison with nanosheet-based spherical β-Bi2O3 (S-β-Bi2O3) obtained from pure bismuth citrate. The degradation efficiency of rhodamine B (RhB) and malachite green (MG) was increased from 54.0% and 53.1% of S-β-Bi2O3 to 91.2% and 94.6% of H-β-Bi2O3 within 3 h of visible light irradiation, respectively. The improved photocatalytic performance of H-β-Bi2O3 could be attributed to the enhanced light absorption and charge migration efficiency due to the presence of residual carbon and metal Bi, as well as higher surface area of hollow microstructure.