Bismuth Oxychloride Nanomaterials Fighting for Human Health: From Photodegradation to Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Environmental pollution and various diseases seriously affect the health of human beings. Photocatalytic nanomaterials (NMs) have been used for degrading pollution for a long time. However, the biomedical applications of photocatalytic NMs have only recently been investigated. As a typical photocatalytic NM, bismuth oxychloride (BiOCl) exhibits excellent photocatalytic performance due to its unique layered structure, electronic properties, optical properties, good photocatalytic activity, and stability. Some environmental pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds, antibiotics and their derivatives, heavy metal ions, pesticides, and microorganisms, could not only be detected but also be degraded by BiOCl-based NMs due to their excellent photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical properties. In particular, BiOCl-based NMs have been used as theranostic platforms because of their CT and photoacoustic imaging abilities, as well as photodynamic and photothermal performances. However, some reviews have only profiled the applications of dye degradation, hydrogen or oxygen production, carbon dioxide reduction, or nitrogen fixation of BiOCl NMs. There is a notable knowledge gap regarding the systematic study of the relationship between BiOCl NMs and human health, especially the biomedical applications of BiOCl-based NMs. As a result, in this review, the recent progress of BiOCl-based photocatalytic degradation and biomedical applications are summarized, and the improvement of BiOCl-based NMs in environmental and healthcare fields are also discussed. Finally, a few insights into the current status and future perspectives of BiOCl-based NMs are given.

Bismuth Oxychloride Nanoflakes Enabled High Sensitivity Colorimetric UV Dosimetry

“…Since BiOCl materials have been used in many medical applications and have reported negligible cytotoxicity at concentrations lower than 0.5 μg/mL, it is well suited for skin care applications, where it is not expected to come in direct contact. [27][28][29]45 Solid-state filter paper based UV sensors demonstrated above clearly showed its ability to monitor UV dosage. We further studied its suitability for evaluating the efficiency of sunscreen under different conditions.…”

“…BiOCl is a semiconductor that has a band gap of 3.46 eV that is ideal for adsorbing UV radiation. , Due to this physical property, significant research has focused on using BiOCl as a photocatalyst in photovoltaic applications but not for UV sensing applications. − To exploit this characteristic, we developed a BiOCl-based UV sensor to monitor sunlight exposure. BiOCl is known to be biocompatible and used in many medical applications such as mineral makeup and as a theranostic platform. − We also utilized different dye molecules such as 6-carboxyfluorescein (6CF), 5-carboxyfluorescein (5CF), Prussian blue (PB), and rhodamine-B (RhB) to explore any synergistic effects between BiOCl and dye molecules in sensing UV radiation exposure. UV adsorption properties of BiOCl and dye mixtures are evaluated in solution state and also as a solid-state sensor device fabricated from these solutions using a Whatman filter paper.…”

The direct Z-scheme character and roles of S vacancy in BiOCl/Bi2S3-(001) heterostructures for superior photocatalytic activity: a hybrid density functional investigation

“…[7][8][9] Among these methods, constructing a heterostructure with other semiconductors is considered the most promising and popular method for enhancing its photocatalytic efficiency. [10][11][12][13] For example, another significant Bi-based semiconductor photocatalyst Bi 2 S 3 (space group Pbnm (#62)) was adopted to build BiOCl/Bi 2 S 3 heterostructures by many experimental working groups, [2][3][4][5][6][14][15][16][17][18] in order to enhance the photocatalytic activities of both BiOCl and Bi 2 S 3 . One important reason is that Bi 2 S 3 has a narrow band gap of 1.33-1.70 eV that can strongly absorb visible light, 5,14 also has a layered structure, and complements the larger band gap of BiOCl when BiOCl and Bi 2 S 3 are coupled to form a heterostructure.…”

Life Cycle Assessment and Cost Benefit Analysis for the integrated assessment of an innovative Mn-TiO2 nanoparticle photocatalytic paint

“…Much research is carried out on photocatalytic nanomaterials, often involving titanium dioxide (TiO2), which is an innovative and promising solution for degrading indoor air pollution (Wang et al, 2022;Binas et al, 2017). Anatase TiO2 nanoparticles can show significant photocatalytic properties, when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation (Geoffrey et al, 2011)., Additionally, attempts have been carried out for manufacturing nanoparticle TiO2 materials which photocatalize air pollutants also in the visible spectrum of light, when doped in metals, such as manganese, etc.…”