A facile and rapid room-temperature route to hierarchical bismuth oxyhalide solid solutions with composition-dependent photocatalytic activity

The unique nanosheet-based flower-like BiOCl1-xBrx (x = 0-1) hierarchical solid solutions have been prepared by the reaction of Bi2O3 and KCl/1(Br in mixed solution of glacial acetic acid (HAc) and H2O in dozens of minutes under ambient conditions. During the preparation process, the intermediate bismuth oxide acetate (CH3COOBiO) plays a key role in the formation of BiOCl1-xBrx solid solutions in such a short time. The as-prepared hierarchical BiOCl1-xBrx solid solutions possess high specific surface areas and modified band structures, which exhibit enhanced photocatalytic activity for Rhodamine B (RhB) degradation in comparison with pure BiOCl and BiOBr under visible light irradiation, with the activity reaching the maximum at x = 0.5. The photodegradation efficiency of the BiOCl0.5Br0.5 solid solution is twice and 12 times higher than P25 TiO2 under UV and visible light irradiation, respectively. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.