In-Situ Hydrothermal Synthesis of Bi–Bi2O2CO3 Heterojunction Photocatalyst with Enhanced Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity

Bismuth containing nanomaterials recently received increasing attention with respect to environmental applications because of their low cost, high stability and nontoxicity. In this work, Bi–Bi_2O_2CO_3 heterojunctions were fabricated by in-situ decoration of Bi nanoparticles on Bi_2O_2CO_3 nanosheets via a simple hydrothermal synthesis approach. X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscopy(SEM), transmission electron microscopy(TEM) and high-resolution TEM(HRTEM) were used to confirm the morphology of the nanosheet-like heterostructure of the Bi–Bi_2O_2CO_3 composite. Detailed ultrafast electronic spectroscopy reveals that the in-situ decoration of Bi nanoparticles on Bi_2O_2CO_3 nanosheets exhibit a dramatically enhanced electron-hole pair separation rate, which results in an extraordinarily high photocatalytic activity for the degradation of a model organic dye, methylene blue(MB) under visible light illumination. Cycling experiments revealed a good photochemical stability of the Bi–Bi_2O_2CO_3 heterojunction under repeated irradiation. Photocurrent measurements further indicated that the heterojunction incredibly enhanced the charge generation and suppressed the charge recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs.

Photoluminescence behavior and visible light photocatalytic activity of ZnO,ZnO/ZnS and ZnO/ZnS/α-Fe_2O_3 nanocomposites

In order to achieve effective, economic, and easily achievable photocatalyst for the degradation of dye methyl orange（MeO）, ZnO, ZnO/ZnS and ZnO/ZnS/α-Fe2O3 nanocomposites were prepared by simple chemical synthetic route in the aqueous medium. Phase, crystallinity, surface structure and surface behavior of the synthesized materials were determined by X-ray diffraction（XRD） and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis（BET） techniques. XRD study established formation of good crystalline ZnO, ZnO/ZnS and ZnO/ZnS/α-Fe2O3 nanomaterials. By using intensity of constituent peaks in the XRD pattern, the compositions of nanocomposites were determined. From the BET analysis, the prepared materials show mesoporous behavior, type Ⅳ curves along with H4 hysteresis. The ZnO/ZnS/α-Fe2O3 composite shows the largest surface area among three materials. From the UV-visible spectra, the band gap energy of the materials was determined. Photoluminescence spectra（PL） were used to determine the emission behavior and surface defects in the materials. In PL spectra, the intensity of UV peak of ZnO/ZnS is lowered than that of ZnO while in case of ZnO/ZnS/α-Fe2O3, the intensity further decreased. The visible emission spectra of ZnO/ZnS increased compared with ZnO while in ZnO/ZnS/α-Fe2O3 it is further increased compared with ZnO/ZnS. The as-synthesized materials were used as photocatalysts for the degradation of dye MeO. The photo-degradation data revealed that the ZnO/ZnS/α-Fe2O3 is the best photocatalyst among three specimens for the degradation of dye MeO. The decrease of intensity of UV emission peak and the increase of intensity of visible emission cause the decrease of recombination of electrons and holes which are ultimately responsible for the highest photocatalytic activity of ZnO/ZnS/α-Fe2O3.

Hydrothermal synthesis of monodisperse α-Fe_2O_3 hexagonal platelets

Uniformly sized α-Fe2O3 hexagonal platelets were synthesized by a hydrothermal process using Fe（OH）3 suspension and large amount of NaOH. The reaction products were characterized by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, selected area electron diffraction （SAED）, and a vibrating sample magnetometer （VSM）. The results show that the hexagonaq platelets are fine, monodisperse and consisting of single-crystals. The magnetic hysteresis （M-H） curvel of the samples measured at room temperature indicates that the α-Fe2O3 micro-platelets exhibit ferromagnetic behaviors with relatively low coercivity.