Convenient Synthesis and Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity of BiOI/BiOBr Nanostructures with Different Morphologies.

A facile solvothermal method for the synthesis of BiOI with different morphologies was proposed. The results indicated that the ethylene glycol and isopropyl alcohol system could control the consecutive dimension and size changes of BiOI from zero-dimension to three-dimension kinetically and thermodynamically. On this basis, BiOI/BiOBr composite photocatalysts were prepared, and the correlation between the catalytic performance and structure of the photocatalyst was also investigated. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of BiOI/BiOBr composite photocatalysts can be attributed to the intact three-dimensional hierarchical micro-nanostructures, appropriate phase composition and the efficient separation of photogenerated charge carriers.