Cellulose-Templated Bi2sio5 Nanorods with Enhanced Uv/Vis Light Utilization Efficiency for High-Performance Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Contaminants

Abstract

The narrow light response of semiconductor photocatalysts greatly limited the photocatalytic activity, and how to regulate the photocatalytic activity in a simple and effective way is an extremely important issue. In this work, a simple and efficient cellulose-induced strategy towards ordered assembly of inorganic oxides was developed to fabricate Bi2SiO5 nanorods for high-performance ultraviolet/visible-light photocatalytic degradation of organic contaminants. The addition of cellulose dramatically changed the morphology of the nanoparticle catalysts from sheet to rod and greatly decreased the dimensions. The as-prepared nanocatalysts exhibited excellent light utilization and photocatalytic activities towards contaminant degradation, and the enhancement on UV/Vis light absorbance enabled complete degradation of 100 mg/L RhB solution in 40 min under the simulated sunlight (1 sun, UV and Vis), which was much faster than that reported previously. The high photo-induced carrier separation and transfer efficiency of the nanorods enhanced the ultraviolet/visible-light utilization efficiency. The active species produced from the nanorods under light irradiation were identified as superoxide radicals (•O2−), and the photocatalytic degradation mechanism based on charge transfer channels was proposed. This study provided a simple, efficient and promising biomass-based strategy for the performance regulation of photocatalytic materials, which is conducive to the industrial application of semiconductor photocatalysts.

Keywords: Bi2SiO5 nanoparticles, Cellulose-templated, Photocatalytic degradation, Morphological regulation, Light utilization efficiency.