Co4I3O24H15⋅3H2O: A new amorphous semiconductor with intrinsical photocatalytic performance in organic dye degradation driven by visible light

Abstract

Amorphous semiconductor photocatalysts are highly desirable because they are facile and low-cost to prepare in comparison with the crystalline ones. The amorphous semiconductor with photocatalytic activity has been rarely reported. In this work, a new amorphous semiconductor photocatalyst, Co4I3O[Formula: see text]H[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]3H2O, was successfully developed. Its microstructure is composed of irregular particles with size of 2–20[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m. In photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B (RhB), or methylene blue (MB) dyes driven by visible light, the Co4I3O[Formula: see text]H[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]3H2O sample exhibited pronounced activity. Its activity is higher than Degussa P25 (commercial TiO[Formula: see text] in RhB degradation. It was testified that the degradation of RhB is due to the intrinsical photocatalytic role of Co4I3O[Formula: see text]H[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]3H2O. The reusability of the Co4I3O[Formula: see text]H[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]3H2O photocatalyst was also investigated.