Microwave-assisted synthesis of hierarchical Bi2O3 spheres assembled from nanosheets with pore structure

Hierarchical Bi2O3 spheres assembled from nanosheets with nanopore structure have been successfully synthesized by thermal decomposition of the precursor at 400 °C for 3 h in air, which was prepared using Bi(NO3)3·5H2O and poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) by a microwave-assisted heating method in ethylene glycol (EG) at 150 °C for 10 min. The morphology of Bi2O3 is similar to that of the precursor. The products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and differential scanning calorimetric analysis (DSC). XRD pattern showed that the product had a high degree of crystallinity. FE-SEM micrograph indicated that hierarchical Bi2O3 spheres had sizes around 10 μm.