Acta Phys. -Chim. Sin. ›› 2012, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (06): 1481-1488.doi: 10.3866/PKU.WHXB201203313

• CATALYSIS AND SURFACE SCIENCE • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Bi3.25Nd0.75Ti3O12 Nanostructures: Controllable Synthesis and Visible-Light Photocatalytic Activities

LIN Xue1,2, GUAN Qing-Feng1, LI Hai-Bo3, LI Hong-Ji2, BA Chun-Hua2, DENG Hai-De2   

  1. 1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, Jiangsu Province, P. R. China;
    2. College of Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Preparation and Application Environmentally Friendly Materials of the Ministry of Education, Jilin Normal University, Siping 136000, Jilin Province, P. R. China;
    3. College of Physics, Jilin Normal University, Siping 136000, Jilin Province, P. R. China
  • Received:2012-02-13 Revised:2012-03-29 Published:2012-05-17
  • Contact: GUAN Qing-Feng E-mail:guanqf@ujs.edu.cn
  • Supported by:

    The project was supported by the Key Laboratory of Preparation and Application Environmentally Friendly Materials of the Ministry of Education of China, Scientific Research Innovation Plan for Young Talented Person and Plans of Scientific Research Innovation for Postgraduates of Jilin Normal University, China.

Abstract: Neodymium-doped bismuth titanate (Bi3.25Nd0.75Ti3O12, BNdT) nanostructures with different morphologies were synthesized hydrothermally without using surfactant or template. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results showed that different morphologies could be fabricated simply by manipulating the concentration of OH- ions during hydrothermal synthesis. Hydroxide ions played an important role in controlling the formation of seeds and the growth rate of BNdT particles. On the basis of structural analysis of samples obtained under different conditions, a possible mechanism for the formation of these distinctive morphologies was proposed. A UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectrum (UV-Vis DRS) of an as-prepared BNdT sample revealed that its band gap energy (Eg) was about 1.984 eV. BNdT photocatalysts exhibited higher photocatalytic activities for the degradation of methyl orange (MO) under visible light irradiation than those for traditional commercial P25 TiO2 and N-doped TiO2 (N-TiO2). BNdT nanowires prepared using a hydroxide concentration of 10 mol·L-1 showed the highest photocatalytic activity among the samples. Over this catalyst, 93.0% degradation of MO (0.01 mmol·L-1) was obtained after irradiation with visible light for 360 min. In addition, there was no significant decrease in photocatalytic activity after the catalyst was used 4 times, indicating that BNdT is a stable photocatalyst for degradation of MO under visible light irradiation.

Key words: Bismuth titanate, Neodymium doping, Nanostructure, Hydrothermal synthesis, Photocatalytic degradation, Visible light irradiation