Microwave Assisted Preparation of Bismuth Oxyhalide Microflowers Comprised of Nanolayers and Investigation of its Photocatalytic Activity

Today, bismuth based oxides, which have already been used as pigments and catalysts, are showing excellent photocatalytic performances. In this field, ternary bismuth oxyhalides (BiOX) are flourishing promptly. Bismuth nitrate pentahydrate and sodium chloride were utilized to fabricate the product in a domestic microwave instrument. The SEM images showed the microflowers which were comprised of nanolayers with the thickness of about 29 nm. From energy dispersive X-ray analysis, its empirical formula was estimated to be Bi2.27O9.31Cl. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed that the peak at 567 cm-1 was attributed to the stretching vibration of Bi-O. Diffuse reflectance spectrum showed band gap energy of 3.5 eV for this compound. It showed a high photocatalytic performance in photodegradation of Rhodamine B.