Lihong Tian

The {001} facets-dependent high photoactivity of BiOCl nanosheets

BiOCl nanosheets (BiOCl NSs) were synthesized by hydrolyzing a hierarchical flowerlike molecular precursor (Bi(n)(Tu)(x)Cl(3n), Tu = thiourea). High photoactivity of {001} facets of BiOCl NSs was observed, and the mechanism was discussed.

Synthesis of highly symmetrical BiOI single-crystal nanosheets and their {001} facet-dependent photoactivity

Highly symmetrical BiOI single-crystal nanosheets (BiOI SCNs) with dominant exposed {001} facets (up to 95%) have been synthesized by annealing BiI3 and characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, selected area electron diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, fast-Fourier transform pattern, UV-vis diffuse reflectance and photoluminescence. The thickness and the {001} facets percentage of BiOI SCNs can be tuned by changing the annealing temperature. The thermal decomposition process of BiI3 and the formation mechanism of BiOI SCNs were investigated. BiOI SCNs exhibit higher photoactivity (about 7 times) than irregular BiOI for degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) dye under visible light irradiation. The {001} facets are the reactive facets of BiOI. The origin of {001} facets-dependent photoactivity is due to an improvement of the separation efficiency of photo-induced electrons and holes.

Bin(Tu)xCl3n: a novel sensitizer and its enhancement of BiOCl nanosheets’ photocatalytic activity

Bismuth complexes, Bin(Tu)xCl3n, were found to be photosensitizers for the first time. BiOCl nanosheets with inner Bin(Tu)xCl3n were synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, selected area electron diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, UV-vis diffuse reflectance, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, thermogravimetric analyses and photoluminescence. The as-synthesized BiOCl displayed high visible light (λ ≥ 420 nm) photocatalytic activity which was 112 and 13 times higher than P25 and BiOCl without Bin(Tu)xCl3n, for degrading RhB, respectively. The investigation of the photocatalytic mechanism demonstrated that Bin(Tu)xCl3n sensitized the BiOCl and resulted in unusually high visible light photocatalytic activity. The superoxide radical was the main active species in the photodegradation process. Furthermore, the concentration of the superoxide radical was quantized by the molecular probe nitroblue tetrazolium.

Photodegradation activity of polyvinyl chloride (PVC)–perchlorinated iron (II) phthalocyanine (FePcCl16) composite film

In this paper, a novel kind of photodegradable PVC-FePcCl(16) composite film was prepared by homogeneous embedding FePcCl(16) into the commercial PVC plastic. The photodegradation performance of as-prepared film has been investigated in the ambient air under UV light irradiation by means of weight loss monitoring, FT-IR spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy. In comparison with the pure PVC film, higher weight loss rate, increasing carbonyl peak intensity and accelerating dehydrochlorination were observed. These results indicate that the PVC-FePcCl(16) composite film has a higher photodegradation activity owing to the FePcCl(16). Moreover, FePcCl(16) has good photostability in the photoreaction. The possible photodegradation mechanism of PVC-FePcCl(16) composite film was also discussed.