Bismuth Oxychloride Nanowires for Photocatalytic Decomposition of Organic Dyes

Engineering nanostructures for semiconductor materials is recognized as an important strategy for achieving excellent photocatalytic activity. Although multiple nanostructures of bismuth oxychloride (BiOCl) were reported, their synthesis procedures were still complicated and thus limited scalable and practical photocatalytic decomposition. Here, we propose a highly efficient route to achieve BiOCl nanowires through simply stirring the precursor of Bi2O3 powder in the saturated NaCl solution at room temperature. The concentration of NaCl plays a crucial role in growing BiOCl nanowires under the mechanism of oriented attachment, uncovered by continuous observations of product morphologies at different reaction stages. Compared to conventional BiOCl powder, BiOCl nanowires exhibited favorable energy band structures with narrow band gaps, which are predominated by the unique structure with a high aspect ratio and exposed active {001} facets. A superior visible-light photocatalytic activity for degrading Rhodamine B dye was found in the case of the prepared BiOCl, which is faster than that for BiOCl nanoparticles and TiO2.

Automated summary

Engineering nanostructures for semiconductor materials is an important strategy for achieving excellent photocatalytic activity. The synthesis of BiOCl nanowires through a highly efficient route showed superior visible-light photocatalytic activity compared to traditional BiOCl powder and TiO2. The unique structure with a high aspect ratio and exposed active facets contributes to the enhanced performance.