Simple preparation of a sunshine -like bismuth oxyiodide nanosheets for photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutant under sunlight

Abstract

The spread of organic pollutants in water is encountering colossal problems worldwide, and it gets worst as the industry progresses. Among the suggested solutions, heterogenous photocatalysis was progressively applied to degrade organic pollutants. Herein, a simple ethylene glycol refluxing (EGR) method was optimized to fabricate bismuth oxyiodide (BiOI) nanoparticles with a percentage yield of 94.2%. The EGR method's success in preparing BiOI nanomaterial was confirmed by the results of X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and Fourier-transform-infrared spectroscopy. The scanning-electron-microscopy and the transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed that the sunshine-like nanosheets are composed of tiny nanoparticles. The BiOI was employed for photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants under visible light. The adsorption capability of BiOI was investigated prior to its photocatalytic activity, and both investigations showed appealing results. The outcomes of this study nominated both the EGR method for fast preparation of a nanoscale BiOI and the applicability of BiOI as a photocatalyst to swap the organic pollutants from contaminated water using the free-inexhaustible sunlight.