Facile solvothermal synthesis of uniform sponge-like Bi2SiO5 hierarchical nanostructure and its application in Cr(VI) removal

Uniform sponge-like Bi2SiO5 hierarchical nanostructures were successfully prepared via a facile and template-free solvothermal method at 150 °C for 6 h in ethylene glycol. The product was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX), nitrogen adsorption and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). The as-synthesized sponge-like Bi2SiO5 hierarchical nanostructures built up from loosely-packed thin nanoflakes possessed large BET surface area and pore volume. It also exhibited excellent Cr(VI) adsorption performance, demonstrating a promising application in wastewater treatment. The as-prepared sponge-like Bi2SiO5 hierarchical nanostructures also showed similar optical property and band gap compared with TiO2, indicating that it could be used as a potential photocatalyst.

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► Sponge-like Bi2SiO5 hierarchical nanostructure was synthesized by solvothermal method.
► The porous Bi2SiO5 hierarchical nanostructure showed large BET surface area.
► Bi2SiO5 hierarchitectures exhibited excellent removal capacity for Cr(VI) ions.
► It also showed similar optical property and band gap compared with TiO2.