Solvothermal synthesis of BiOCl flower-like hierarchical structures with high photocatalytic activity

• Flower-like BiOCl particles were synthesized solvothermally assisting with citric acid.
• The flower-like BiOCl particles were assembled by numerous nanosheets.
• The anisotropic growth of flower-like BiOCl particles was along the (110) plane.
• The flower-like BiOCl particles exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity.

Flower-like BiOCl hierarchical structures were successfully synthesized in the presence of citric acid through a solvothermal process using methanol as a solvent. The citric acid played significant roles, which functioned as both a chelating regent and a structure-directing agent. The as-synthesized flower-like BiOCl particles were assembled by numerous BiOCl nanosheets with a thickness of ca. 15–20 nm. Importantly, such a flower-like BiOCl morphology exhibited a higher photocatalytic activity than that of commercial TiO2 in degradation of methyl orange under either UV light or simulated sunlight illumination.

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