Bismuth oxychloride hollow microspheres with high visible light photocatalytic activity

• Published in: Nano research 2016-03, Vol.9 (3), p.593-601
• Main Authors: Cui, Pengzhen, Wang, Jiali, Wang, Zumin, Chen, Jun, Xing, Xianran, Wang, Lianzhou, Yu, Ranbo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Atomic/Molecular Structure and Spectra; Band structure of solids; Banded structure; Biomedicine; Biotechnology; Bismuth; Catalytic activity; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chlorine; Condensed Matter Physics; Conversion; Electromagnetic absorption; Evolution; Materials Science; Microspheres; Nanostructure; Nanotechnology; Photocatalysis; Photodegradation; Photosensitization; Research Article; Rhodamine; 光催化活性; 光转换效率; 可见光吸收; 氯氧化铋; 空心微球; 空心结构; 能带结构
• ISSN: 1998-0124; 1998-0000
• DOI: 10.1007/s12274-015-0939-z

Hollow microspheres of two bismuth oxychlorides, BiOC1 and Bi24031Cl10, were successfully synthesized using carbonaceous microsphere sacrificial templates. The phase evolution from BiOC1 to Bi24031Cl10 was easily realized by heating the former at 600 ℃. With a uniform diameter of about 200 nm, an average shell thickness of 40 nm, and basic nanosheets of 〈20 nm, the hollow microspheres of both BLOC1 and Bi24031Cl10 showed high visible light photocatalytic activity towards the degradation of Rhodamine B （RhB）. Besides the effective photo- sensitization process and efficient photointroduced carrier separation, the high photocatalytic activity was believed to result from their hollow-structure- dependent large visible light absorption. Moreover, as a chlorine-deficient analogue, the Bi24031Cl10 hollow spheres possessed a narrower band gap, more dispersive band structure, and higher photocarrier conversion efficiency, which further helped them to exhibit better photocatalytic activity.