Facile formation of metallic bismuth/bismuth oxide heterojunction on porous carbon with enhanced photocatalytic activity

Synthesis, characterization, and visible‐light‐induced photocatalytic activity of powdered semiconductor oxides of bismuth and zinc toward degradation of Alizarin Red S

“…The XPS survey spectrum of Bi 2 O 3 contains only Bi, O, and C elements (Figure 4a). In the high-resolution spectrum of Bi 4f region, the peaks centered at 158.5 eV and 163.8 eV are assigned to Bi 4f 7/2 and Bi 4f 5/2 region indicating the +3 valence state of Bi in Bi 2 O 3 ( Figure 4b) (Han et al, 2015;Xu et al, 2008;Zhang et al, 2018). The XPS survey spectrum of ZnO contains only Zn, O, and C elements (Figure 5a).…”

“…Bismuth oxide (Bi 2 O 3 ) also has attracted tremendous attention due to its unique properties such as high refractive index, superior electrochemical property, photoluminescence, and remarkable photocatalytic activity (Bao, Lim, Zhong, Wang, & Hu, 2017;Dadashi, Poursalehi, & Delavari, 2018;Liu, Pan, Lv, Sun, & Sun, 2013;Raza, Bahnemann, & Muneer, 2018). Bi 2 O 3 exists in six crystallographic polymorphic forms symbolized as α-, β-, γ-, δ-, ε-, and ω-Bi 2 O 3 and has wide bandgap (2.0-3.96 eV) (Huang, Hu, Fan, Wu, & Qiu, 2015;Raza, Haque, Muneer, Harada, & Matsumura, 2015;Wang et al, 2014;Zhang et al, 2018). The α-Bi 2 O 3 (bandgap ~2.5 eV) has proved to be the best visible light-driven photocatalyst and exhibits higher photocatalytic activity than α-Bi 2 O 3 (bandgap ~2.9 eV) due to its lower bandgap energy (Hou, Yang, Wang, Zhou, et al, 2013;Liu, Deng, Yao, Jiang, & Shen, 2015;Lu et al, 2014).…”

Enhanced UV-Vis Photodegradation of Nanocomposite Reduced Graphene Oxide/Ferrite Nanofiber Films Prepared by Laser-Assisted Evaporation

“…The metallic bismuth peak is also found in the high-resolution Bi 4f spectra with a maximum percentage of~30% (Figure 6a and Supplementary Figure S5a,b). Since it is well-known that oxidized bismuth species can be thermally reduced in the presence of carbon, we assume that the presence of rGO, as well as the laser-driven heating demonstrated by the temperature simulations, may be promoting the formation of Bi 0 during the laser deposition process [70]. On the other hand, the La 3d spectra for rGO/LFO films also show the presence of larger amounts of La 2 (CO 3 ) 3 , i.e., between 10% and 15% more, as compared to LFO nanofibers (Figure 6b and Supplementary Figure S5c,d).…”

Ultrasound assisted synthesis of nanosized oxide semiconductors/ordered mesoporous carbon nanoarchitectures

“…All reagents used in the experiment were of AR grade purchased from Aldrich and Acros Organics: tetraethyl orthosilicate (Si(OC 2 H 5 ) 4 ) and tri-block copolymer poly (ethylene glycol)-block-poly (propylene glycol)-block-poly(ethylene glycol) (Pluronic P123, molecular weight=5800, EO 20 (1.13cm diameter Ti horn) with 750W power and working frequency of 20kHz, pulsed mode (3s/1s on/off cycle). The temperature during the sonication increased up to 60°C.…”

“…All data confi rm that the ultrasound assisted synthesis is the right way to produce nanosized oxide semiconductors/ ordered mesoporous carbon architectures composites. semiconductor oxide nanoparticles, that is attributable to the high specifi c surface area of carbon support, as well as due to the fact that the carbon support acts as an electron reservoir and possesses great electron transfer properties [20]. Also, high photocatalytic activity of the obtained architectures is due to the graphitic carbon structure that is able to promote a rapid photoinduced charge separation and slow charge recombination, by accepting the photogenerated electrons from photocatalytic nanoparticles.…”