An anion exchange strategy for construction of a novel Bi2SiO5/Bi2MoO6 heterostructure with enhanced photocatalytic performance

Abstract

Based on the structural similarity and the driving principle of solubility, we successfully constructed heterostructures of Bi₂SiO₅/Bi₂MoO₆ through an anion exchange strategy between Bi₂MoO₆ starting material and incoming SiO₃²⁻ ions. By tuning the addition amount of incoming SiO₃²⁻, the evolution process of the Bi₂SiO₅/Bi₂MoO₆ heterostructures involving phase formation, morphology transformation, and changes in specific surface area and optical properties was clearly identified. More importantly, the heterostructured products displayed remarkably enhanced photodegradation activities under UV and visible light irradiation compared to pure Bi₂MoO₆, which could be mainly ascribed to the relatively high surface areas, the light-harvesting contribution from the Bi₂MoO₆ component, and effective separation of photo-generated electron—hole pairs driven by the interfacial potential difference in the Bi₂SiO₅/Bi₂MoO₆ heterojunctions.