Sono-solvothermal design of nanostructured flowerlike BiOI photocatalyst over silica-aerogel with enhanced solar-light-driven property for degradation of organic dyes

In this study, in order to scrutiny the effect of adding Silica Aerogel to the BiOI for evaluation of photocatalytic performance, BiOI-Silica Aerogel with different percentages of Silica Aerogel (10, 20 and 30%) was synthesized by Sono solvothermal method. In order to determine the physical, chemical and optical characteristics of synthesized photocatalysts, XRD, FESEM, EDX-dot mapping, FTIR, BET-BJH, UV-vis DRS and pH(pzc) have been used. The results of the characterization techniques showed that adding Silica Aerogel had a significant effect on physicochemical properties of BiOI. Photocatalytic activity of the samples was measured by degradation of organic pollutants such as Methylene Blue, Acid Orange 7 and Rhodamine B under visible light. From experimental data, it was also found that the amount of Silica Aerogel impressed photocatalyst performance. The best photocatalytic performance was obtained by adding 20% Silica Aerogel to BiOI. Furthermore, the effect of operational parameters such as pH, concentration of MB on the activity of BiOI(80)-SA(20) composite was evaluated. The results showed that MB at pH = 9 and a 0.5 g dosage of BiOI(80)-SA(20) had the highest removal percentage (96.5%) in 120 min. Finally, after 4 cycles, only 9.7% of the photocatalytic activity declined.