Synthesis of δ-Bi2O3 microflowers and nanosheets using CH3COO(BiO) self-sacrifice precursor

• CH3COO(BiO) was firstly put forward to be a photocatalyst.
• Flower-like CH3COO(BiO) could be easily prepared.
• It was converted to sunlight-active δ-Bi2O3 as a self-sacrifice precursor.

Bismuthyl acetate (CH3COO(BiO); BiOAc) dispersed nanosheets and flower-like hierarchical architectures were easily prepared from the reaction between Bi2O3 and glacial acetic acid (HAc) or Bi(NO3)3·5H2O and HAc and subsequent neutralization by Na2CO3 under ambient condition. The BiOAc could be completely soluble in HAc-water (0.04–250 v/v) mixture but insoluble in pure HAc or water, and thus could be collected as a novel photocatalyst candidate because of its availability, non-toxicity and cheapness. Rhodamine B (RhB) could be completely degraded over BiOAc nanosheets within 4 min of UV light irradiation. Especially, BiOAc nanosheets and microflowers could be converted to δ-Bi2O3 by thermal treatment, while the morphology remained unchanged. The as-prepared δ-Bi2O3 exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity for RhB degradation under simulated sunlight illumination owing to its suitable band gap energy.

The CH3COO(BiO) nanocrystals prepared from the reaction of Bi2O3 or Bi(NO)3·5H2O and HAc exhibited superior UV-light photodegradation activity and could be converted to sunlight active δ-Bi2O3 photocatalyst with the morphology remained.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide