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Hierarchical nanostructured 3D flowerlike BiOX particles with excellent visible-light photocatalytic activity

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Abstract

BiOX (X = Cl, Br, and I) semiconductors were firstly prepared by a facile mixed solvent solvothermal route. Several characterization tools were employed to study the phase structures, morphologies, and optical properties of the samples. The in situ chemically mixed prepared BiOX particles with diameters 3.0–5.0 μm, fabricated by nanoplates in the thickness range of 5–18 nm, exhibited the highest visible-light photocatalytic activity among the as-prepared samples and Degussa P25 for the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB). This result can be due to the narrow bandgap, broad sunlight range, high electronic negativity, and efficient separation of photoinduced electron–hole pairs. Finally, a possible photocatalytic mechanism has been proposed.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21407084), Research Program of Science and Technology at Universities of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (No. NJZY13141), and the Natural Science Foundation of Inner Mongolia (No. 2014BS0509).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Material and Metallurgy, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou, 014010, China

    Jinling Song, Baoying Wang, Xianjie Guo, Ruifen Wang & Zhongping Dong

  2. Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory for Utilization of Bayan Obo Multi-Metallic Resources, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou, 014010, China

    Jinling Song, Ruifen Wang & Zhongping Dong

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  1. Jinling Song
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  2. Baoying Wang
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  3. Xianjie Guo
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  4. Ruifen Wang
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  5. Zhongping Dong
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Correspondence to Jinling Song.

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Song, J., Wang, B., Guo, X. et al. Hierarchical nanostructured 3D flowerlike BiOX particles with excellent visible-light photocatalytic activity. J Nanopart Res 18, 245 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-016-3556-1

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