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Bismuth oxychloride hollow microspheres with high visible light photocatalytic activity

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Abstract

Hollow microspheres of two bismuth oxychlorides, BiOCl and Bi24O31Cl10, were successfully synthesized using carbonaceous microsphere sacrificial templates. The phase evolution from BiOCl to Bi24O31Cl10 was easily realized by heating the former at 600 °C. With a uniform diameter of about 200 nm, an average shell thickness of 40 nm, and basic nanosheets of <20 nm, the hollow microspheres of both BiOCl and Bi24O31Cl10 showed high visible light photocatalytic activity towards the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB). Besides the effective photosensitization process and efficient photointroduced carrier separation, the high photocatalytic activity was believed to result from their hollow-structure-dependent large visible light absorption. Moreover, as a chlorine-deficient analogue, the Bi24O31Cl10 hollow spheres possessed a narrower band gap, more dispersive band structure, and higher photocarrier conversion efficiency, which further helped them to exhibit better photocatalytic activity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Pengzhen Cui, Jiali Wang, Zumin Wang, Jun Chen, Xianran Xing & Ranbo Yu

  2. Nanomaterials Centre, School of Chemical Engineering and AIBN, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Lianzhou Wang & Ranbo Yu

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  1. Pengzhen Cui
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  3. Zumin Wang
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  4. Jun Chen
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  6. Lianzhou Wang
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  7. Ranbo Yu
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Correspondence to Ranbo Yu.

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Cui, P., Wang, J., Wang, Z. et al. Bismuth oxychloride hollow microspheres with high visible light photocatalytic activity. Nano Res. 9, 593–601 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-015-0939-z

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