Synthesis of sillenite-type Bi36Fe2O57 and elemental bismuth with visible-light photocatalytic activity for water treatment

doi:10.1007/s11706-018-0442-z

Front. Mater. Sci.

2018, Vol. 12

Issue (4) : 415-425 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11706-018-0442-z

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Synthesis of sillenite-type Bi₃₆Fe₂O₅₇ and elemental bismuth with visible-light photocatalytic activity for water treatment

Chuan DENG^1,², Xianxian WEI¹(

), Ruixiang LIU², Yajie DU¹, Lei PAN¹, Xiang ZHONG¹, Jianhua SONG¹

¹. College of Environment and Safety, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
². College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China

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Abstract

With Fe(NO₃)₃·9H₂O and Bi(NO₃)₃·5H₂O as raw materials, different sillenite-type compounds and elemental bismuth were prepared by a facile one-pot solvothermal method using H₂O, C₂H₅OH, (CH₂OH)₂ and C₃H₈O₃ as solvents, respectively. The structure, morphology, elemental compositions and properties of samples were examined by XRD, SEM, TEM, ICP, XPS, N₂ adsorption and desorption, UV-vis DRS and PL. The photocatalytic activities of different samples were evaluated by the photodegradation of RhB under visible-light irradiation (l>400 nm), and results show that Bi₃₆Fe₂O₅₇ prepared using C₂H₅OH as the solvent owns the optimum performance. In order to explore the reaction mechanism, an additional experiment was designed to investigate the main active species during the photodegradation process via dissolving different trapping agents in the reaction solution before light irradiation. The results show that superoxide radical anions play a major role in this system since the RhB degradation was significantly suppressed after the addition of benzoquinone.

Keywords photocatalysis sillenite elemental Bi Bi₃₆Fe₂O₅₇

Corresponding Author(s): Xianxian WEI

Online First Date: 29 November 2018 Issue Date: 10 December 2018

Cite this article:

Chuan DENG,Xianxian WEI,Ruixiang LIU, et al. Synthesis of sillenite-type Bi₃₆Fe₂O₅₇ and elemental bismuth with visible-light photocatalytic activity for water treatment[J]. Front. Mater. Sci., 2018, 12(4): 415-425.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/foms/EN/10.1007/s11706-018-0442-z
https://academic.hep.com.cn/foms/EN/Y2018/V12/I4/415

Fig.1 XRD patterns: (a) BFO and BFO–C₂H₅OH; (b) Bi–(CH₂OH)₂ and Bi–C₃H₈O₃.

Fig.2 XPS results: (a) full spectrum of BFO–C₂H₅OH; (b)(c)(d) high-resolution spectra of Bi, Fe and O elements.

Tab.1 Surface and bulk elemental compositions of BFO–C₂H₅OH resulting from XPS and ICP analyses

Fig.3 SEM images of (a) BFO, (b) BFO–C₂H₅OH, (c) Bi–(CH₂OH)₂ and (d) Bi–C₃H₈O₃.

Fig.4 Morphologies and structures of polycrystalline (upper) and single-crystalline (lower) in BFO–C₂H₅OH: (a)(c) TEM and SAED (inset) images; (b)(d) corresponding HRTEM images.

Fig.5 Nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherm plots and corresponding PSD curves (inset): (a) BFO and BFO–C₂H₅OH; (b) Bi–(CH₂OH)₂ and Bi–C₃H₈O₃.

Tab.2 Structure parameters of different photocatalysts

Fig.6 (a) UV-vis DRS results of different catalysts and (b) the optical absorption edges.

Fig.7 PL spectra of different samples with the excitation wavelength of 260 nm.

Fig.8 (a) The reaction process and (b) the pseudo-first-order rate constant for the photocatalytic degradation of RhB with different catalysts.

Fig.9 Reaction process for the photocatalytic degradation of RhB on BFO–C₂H₅OH with and without trapping agents.

Fig.10 The suggested mechanism diagram of the photocatalytic reaction.

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