One-pot synthesis of BiSbO4 nanophotocatalyst with enhanced visible-light performance

Abstract

In view of the current attentions to energy shortages and environment crises, the development of highly efficient and visible-light driven photocatalysts becomes an urgent and important issue. The past two decades have witnessed great efforts on the d¹⁰-based metal oxides due to excellent electron conduction in dispersed conduction band (CB). The photocatalytic performance will be further enhanced if the valence band (VB) can also be modified to a hybridized state to promote the hole mobility. Here for the first time, spindle-shaped BiSbO₄ nanocrystals with dispersed band structures have been prepared via a one-pot hydrothermal route without the use of additives. The quasi-one-dimensional BiSbO₄ nanocrystals with larger surface area were investigated as excellent visible-light photocatalysts and showed enhanced activity for the decomposition of organic pollutants than the bulk catalyst prepared by the solid-sate reaction. This study provides insights into the design of new photocatalysts in term of band engineering and soft-chemistry synthesis.