Study on the Morphological Control and Photocatalytic Mechanism of BiOI Nanomaterials Synthesized by the Co-precipitation Method
摘要
BiOI nanocomposites with different morphologies were successfully synthesized via the co-precipitation method. The samples were characterized using various techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS), to investigate their microstructure, morphology, chemical composition, optical properties, and photocatalytic degradation performance. Furthermore, the influence of morphology and photocatalyst dosage on the photocatalytic performance of BiOI was evaluated by degrading Rhodamine B (RhB). The experimental results demonstrated that the morphology of the BiOI nanomaterials (flower-like, microspherical, and sheet-like) could be tuned by adjusting the solvent and reaction pH. The samples prepared by this method exhibited a single-phase tetragonal crystal structure, with small grain size and high crystallinity. The flower-like BiOI-1 displayed excellent visible light absorption and the narrowest band gap, with a red-shift phenomenon. The microspherical BiOI-2 showed the best photocatalytic activity for RhB degradation. Additionally, hydroxyl radicals (·OH), superoxide anions (·O2−), and holes (h+) all played certain roles in the photocatalytic degradation process, and a possible photocatalytic activity mechanism was proposed.