Shape-dependent photocatalytic activities of bismuth subcarbonate nanostructures

Different shaped bismuth subcarbonate ((BiO)2CO3) nanostructures including irregular nanoplates, relatively uniform nanoplates and nanocubes were prepared and characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy (DRS) and nitrogen adsorption. The photocatalytic performance of the as-synthesized (BiO)2CO3 nanostructures on the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB), methyl orange (MO) and methyl blue (MB) were evaluated under UV-vis light irradiation (modeling sunlight). The photocatalysis tests showed that all the different (BiO)2CO3 nanostructures displayed enhanced photodegradation performance compared with commercial (BiO)2CO3. The irregular (BiO)2CO3 nanoplates exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity on the degradation of different organic dyes. (BiO)2CO3 nanosturctures exhibited the different capacity to bleach the three organic dyes, which might be attributed to their different molecular structures. This work may provide a potential photocatalyst for the environmental pollutants treatments.