Preparation of Bismuth Oxide Quantum Dots and their Photocatalytic Activity in a Homogeneous System

Abstract

Colloidal oil‐soluble Bi2O3 quantum dots (QDs) are synthesized through an alcoholysis route in organic media. Water‐soluble Bi2O3 QDs are then obtained from the initial oil‐soluble QDs through phase transfer by surface modification with mercaptopropionic acid. X‐ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy studies show that the crystallinity is enhanced and particles grow larger after phase transfer. The water‐soluble Bi2O3 QDs exhibit excellent photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methyl orange at a wide range of pH values. After several cycles, the Bi2O3 QDs retain high degradation efficiency. Simulation according to the first‐order reaction dynamics indicates that the degradation reaction may follow complicated quasi‐homogeneous photocatalysis.

Comparative study on photocatalytic performances of crystalline α- and β-Bi2O3 nanoparticles under visible light

“…This can be explained by noting that BiO-3 sample was well crystallized b-Bi 2 O 3 (tetragonal phase) comparing to BiO-1 and BiO-2 samples with monoclinic phases, which were both a-Bi 2 O 3 . It is quite clear that the photocatalytic activity of b-Bi 2 O 3 was higher than a-Bi 2 O 3 , which is in good agreement with what has been previously published [6,23,24,[51][52][53][54][55]. There are several reasons to illustrate the improvement of photoactivity of b-Bi 2 O 3 .…”

Novel Bi2O3 nanoporous film fabricated by anodic oxidation and its photoelectrochemical performance

“…have been used to prepare Bi 2 O 3 . And Bi 2 O 3 with various morphologies, such as nanoplates [10], quantum dots [7], nanoparticles [11], nanobelts [9], nanorods [12,14], nanotubes, nanofibers [13], and nanofilms [3,4] have also been prepared because of the strong relationship between the structures and their attractive physical or chemical properties [15][16][17][18]. However, these methods have kinds of issues such as the complex process, strict reaction conditions (high temperature, high pressure), or use of template etc.…”

“…Over the past few years, considerable interest has been focused on the synthesis of bismuth oxide (Bi 2 O 3 ) because it can be used in many fields such as gas sensors [1,2], optical coatings [3,4], solid oxide fuel cells [5], catalysts [6,7], and electrochemical supercapacitors [8,9]. Consequently, various methods including chemical bath deposition method [10], gel to crystal conversion route [11], electrodeposition route [9], MOCVD technique [12], template-based heat treatment method [13], etc.…”

Sonochemical Synthesis of Bismuth(III) Nano Coordination Compound and Direct Synthesis of Bi2O3 Nanoparticles from a Bismuth(III) Nano Coordination Compound Precursor

“…Bi 2 O 3 , an important metal oxide semiconductor with a direct band gap of 2.8 ev, has been receiving considerable attention because of its various applications, such as photocatalyst, solid oxide fuel cell, and gas sensor and ion conductive solid electrolyte [14,15]. Recent years, several successful strategies including precipitation method [16,17], microwave-assisted synthesis [18], electrode positon route [19,20], and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [21,22], have been reported to prepare Bi 2 O 3 with various morphologies, such as quantum dots [16], nanoparticles [17], nanobelts [15], nanorods [21,22], nanotubes [23], nanofibers [24] and film [19].…”