Hydrothermal preparation and visible-light photocatalytic activity of bismuth layer structure Na0.5Bi2.5Nb2O9 nanoplates

Abstract

Abstract Nanoparticles of bismuth-layered ferroelectric and photocatalytic material, Na0.5Bi2.5Nb2O9, have been prepared by hydrothermal method synthesis, the raw materials include Bi(NO3)3, NaOH and Nb2O5. The phases and morphologies of the samples are characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The photocatalytic performance of the Na0.5Bi2.5Nb2O9 powders were evaluated by degradation of methylene blue(MB) molecules (λ>400 nm). The results show that the phases of Na0.5Bi2.5Nb2O9 particle is pure orthorhombic bismuth layer structure at 160 °C and 10 h. The morphology of the sample is flake-like, the thickness size is 25 nm, and the edge size is 200 nm. Na0.5Bi2.5Nb2O9 sample has excellent light response performance in the ultraviolet-visible wavelength range, with a band gap of 2.55 eV, and it exhibits photocatalytic performance for photocatalytic decomposition of MB under ultraviolet-visible light irradiation. As novel of visible-light-driven photocatalysts, Na0.5Bi2.5Nb2O9 with a two-layer Aurivillius structure has a great potentially application in environment-protection field.