Microwave hydrothermal synthesis of a new bismuth titanate compound

A new bismuth titanate compound was synthesized by microwave hydrothermal method, using Bi(NO3)3·5H2O and (NH4)2TiF6 as raw materials. The EDS result reveals that the new compound is composed of Bi, Ti, O and F elements. The XRD results indicate that increasing reaction temperature or prolonging reaction time is beneficial to the growth of the crystal. The SEM results show that the morphology of samples changes from sphere to irregular polyhedron with increase of reaction time. According to the UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectrum, the compound has a band gap of 2.76 eV. The photocatalytic performance of the sample synthesized at 180 °C for 10 min was evaluated by the decolorization of rhodamine B (RhB) under UV-light irradiation, and the result shows that the degradation rate of RhB is more than 90% after 60 min irradiation.