Preparation and characterization of highly photocatalytic active hierarchical BiOX (X=Cl, Br, I) microflowers for rhodamine B degradation with kinetic modelling studies

Abstract

The hierarchical BiOX (X=Cl, Br, I) microflowers were successfully synthesized via simple precipitation method at 160 °C for 24 h and characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, UV-vis DRS and N₂ adsorption-desorption techniques. The as-prepared samples were pure phases and of microflowers composed of nanosheets which intercrossed with each other. The specific surface areas were about 22.9, 17.3 and 16.2 m²/g for BiOCl, BiOBr and BiOI, respectively. The photocatalytic activities of BiOX powers were evaluated by RhB degradation under UV-vis light irradiation in the order of BiOCl > BiOBr > BiOI. Also, the kinetics of RhB degradation over BiOI was selectively investigated, demonstrating that the kinetics of RhB degradation follows apparent first-order kinetics and fits the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model.

Keywords

microstructure / semiconductors / photocatalysis / BiOX

References

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