Sonochemical synthesis and characterization of BiOI nanoplates for using as visible-light-driven photocatalyst

BiOI nanoplates were successfully synthesized by a simple sonochemical method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed the presence of pure tetragonal BiOI nanoplates in the solutions with the pH of 8–12. The photocatalytic activities of the BiOI nanoplates were evaluated through the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under xenon visible-light irradiation. Obviously, the pH of precursor solutions played an important role in the photocatalytic activities. In this research, the BiOI nanoplates synthesized in the solution with the pH of 12 showed the highest efficiency of 81.19% within 180 min.