Nanosheets of BiOCl Incorporated in Microflowers: Microwave Assisted Synthesis and Dye-Photosensitized Removal of Pollutants

BiOCl microflowers were synthesized using bismuth nitrate pentahydrate and sodium chloride by microwave (MW) assisted synthesis method for 23 minutes at 180 W. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies revealed a unique morphology of flower-like assemblies comprised of nanosheets. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern showed that a highly pure and crystalline phase has been obtained. The energy dispersive X-ray (EDS) and photoluminescence (PL) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopies were also used to evaluate the composition and structure of the product. The UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) studies revealed the indirect band gap value of about 3.33 eV for the fabricated semiconductor.Photocatalytic studies confirmed that the BiOCl nanostructure could remove Rhodamine B (RhB) and Natural Red 4 (N-Red) dyes from the aqueous solutions by dye-photosensitized degradation mechanism under visible light illumination.