Constrained growth of ultrasmall BiOCl nanodiscs with a low percentage of exposed {001} facets and their enhanced photoreactivity under visible light irradiation

• Published in: Applied catalysis. B, Environmental Environmental, 2015-10, Vol.176-177, p.201-211
• Main Authors: Chang, Xiaofeng, Wang, Shuangbao, Qi, Qi, Gondal, M.A., Rashid, S.G., Yang, Deyuan, Dastageer, M.A., Shen, Kai, Xu, Qingyu, Wang, Peng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: BiOCl; Chlorides; Constrained growth; Constraints; Contaminants; Exposure; Hydroxylammonium chloride; Nanostructure; Photosensitization; Sodium; Sorption; Two dimensional; {0 0 1} Facets
• ISSN: 0926-3373; 1873-3883
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apcatb.2015.03.047

[Display omitted] •Ultrasmall BiOCl nanodiscs with 59% exposed {001} facets (BOC001-59) were prepared.•A complex of Bi3+-hydroxylamine evokes the constrained growth of ultrasmall BiOCl.•The boosted sorption and photodegradation activity on BOC001-59 were found.•The richer active sites along [001] in BOC001-59 result the boosted activity. Tailored crystal growth of two dimensional (2D) structured BiOCl photocatalyst is a quite challenging area and prerequisite for achieving superior photoreactivity. In this work, the constrained growth of ultrasmall BiOCl nanodiscs (∼65nm in diameter) with a low percentage of exposed {001} facets (as low as ∼59%) has been achieved through a facile hydrolysis route at normal temperature and pressure, by using sodium bismuthate (NaBiO3) and hydroxylammonium chloride (HONH2·HCl) aqueous solution as the bismuth source and “four-in-one” reaction media, respectively. By means of diverse characterization techniques and density functional theory (DFT) method, it was found that hydroxylammonium chloride solution not only acts as a kind of solvent, reductant and chloride donator, but also plays a crucial role on the constrained growth of {001} facets in BiOCl nanodiscs via the two-stage growth mechanism. Additionally and more importantly, the as-prepared BiOCl nanodiscs exhibit superior sorption capacity and visible-light-induced photodegradation performance of Rhodamine B contaminant, to the conventional BiOCl nanosheets dominated with {001} facets.