Super-high photocatalytic activity of Fe2O3 nanoparticles anchored on Bi2O2CO3 nanosheets with exposed {001} active facets

Structure engineering enables us to design novel photocatalysts with high efficiency and stability. Here visible light absorbing Fe2O3 semiconductor is chosen as sensitizer to modify wide band-gap Bi2O2CO3 semiconductor in order to enhance its photocatalytic properties by shifting the UV-driven catalytic activity to visible-light-driven catalytic activity. The Bi2O2CO3@Fe2O3 nanosheets with exposed active {0 0 1} facet were fabricated by a facile one-step modified hydrothermal method. The thermal stability, crystal structure, morphology and optical band gap were characterized. The photocatalytic activities of the Bi2O2CO3 and Bi2O2CO3@Fe2O3 with different molar ratio of Fe2O3 to Bi2O2CO3 were compared. It was found that the Bi2O2CO3@Fe2O3 catalyst can degrade rhodamine-B within 25 min under the simulated sunlight, displaying greatly enhanced photocatalytic activity with respect to the Bi2O2CO3 catalyst. The photocatalyst showed good photostability and recyclability. A mixture of multi-colored dyes including rhodamine-B, methylene blue and methyl orange can be completely degraded by the Bi2O2CO3@Fe2O3 catalyst (5 mol% Fe2O3) within 45 min under the simulated sunlight irradiation. The photocatalytic mechanism was discussed in detail. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.