A Facile Controllable Synthesis, Growth Mechanism, and Photocatalytic Properties of Nanoscale BiOCl

Nanoscale tetragonal BiOCl samples have been synthesized using Bi[SC12H25](3) and CHCl3 as bismuth and chlorine sources by solvothermal reactions. The structure, morphology, and formation process have been investigated by SEM, TEM, HRTEM, XRD, and EDX analyses. The layered crystal structure feature of BiOCl may induce the growth of nano plates, which can subsequently aggregate into 3D spherical or flower-like microstructures under the presence of ethanol. The reaction temperature and the identity of secondary solvent influence the morphology. The yield of BiOCl depends on the completeness of the reaction and the degree of a competition reduction of BiOCl to Bi by ethanol. The as-synthesized 3D quasi-spherical BiOCl sample has an optical band gap of 3.15 eV, and shows much better photocatalytic performance on the degradation of methyl orange than that of commercial P25.