Novel bismuth oxy hydride chromate (HBi3(CrO4)O3) nano-sheets/rods synthesized by one step one pot wet chemical method

A novel inorganic hydride material, hydrogen bismuth chromium oxide (HBi₃(CrO₄)O₃), with 2D nano sheets and 1D nanorods were prepared for the first time using a simple, green, hazard free hydrothermal method. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) results confirms that the as-formed sample (HBi₃(CrO₄)O₃) has monoclinic crystal system with a space group of P21/a. The field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) analysis clearly reveal that the new material contains large quantity of 2D nanosheets of thickness <10 nm and spread over >1000 nm and with small amounts of micro-rods of width in the range of 1 to 5 μm and lengths in the range of 40 to 100 μm. The EDS analysis confirms the presence of ‘Bi’, ‘Cr’, and ‘O’ and it further evidences the purity of the sample. The fourier transform infra-red (FT-IR) spectra evidences that the sample has Bi-H, Bi-O and Cr-O bonds as expected for HBi₃(CrO₄)O₃. This material has a potential to find its place in hydrogen storage material, photo/electro catalysis, fuel cells, optoelectronics and rechargeable batteries, therefore it needs materials researcher attention immediately.