One‐Pot Polyvinyl Alcohol‐Assisted Hydrothermal Synthesis of Hierarchical Flower‐Like BiOCl Nanoplates with Enhancement of Photocatalytic Activity for Degradation of Rhodamine B

We have successfully synthesized hierarchical flower‐like bismuth oxychloride nanoplates by a polyvinyl alcohol‐assisted hydrothermal process. The as‐synthesized products were characterized by a collection of techniques, such as X‐ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and N 2 adsorption–desorption isotherms. The concentration of polyvinyl alcohol and hydrothermal time were vital effects for formation of hierarchical flower‐like bismuth oxychloride nanostructures. Rhodamine B (RhB) was selected to evaluate the photocatalytic performance of as‐synthesized samples under visible light irradiation. The degradation was undergone through a photosensitization pathway. The hierarchical flower‐like bismuth oxychloride nanoplates showed much higher RhB removal efficiency than other bismuth oxychloride samples and commercial Degussa TiO 2 . The active species trapping experiments revealed that the superoxide radicals ( O 2 −• ) were the main active species in aqueous solution. In combining with the N 2 bubbling experiment, photocatalysis mechanism was finally proposed.