A novel bismuth-based hybrid material with highly activity for fast removal of rhodamine B under dark conditions

The development of sensitive catalysts for fast removal of organic pollutants is crucial for preventing water contamination and improving public health. The recent studies on the degradation of organic pollutants mainly focus on the exploitation of new visible-light-responsive photocatalysts. However, it is still a high challenge to utilize a large fraction of the solar spectrum. Another possible avenue is to degrade organic dyes under dark conditions, which is of great importance for man and the environment. Here, we designed and synthesized a new zero-dimensional hybrid material, namely, (C4N2H7)(4)Bi2Cl10 (1) by slow evaporation method. 1 is composed of protonated 2-methylimidazole cations and [Bi2Cl10](4-) dimer anions, which exhibits high performance for fast degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) at room temperature under dark conditions. The high performance of degradation on dyes indicates it may be used as an effective catalyst to remove organic dyes in wastewater treatment. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.