Room-temperature solid state synthesis of ZnO/Bi₂O₃ heterojunction and their solar light photocatalytic performance

ZnO/Bi₂O₃ heterojunction was prepared by solid state reaction method at room temperature. The as-prepared nanostructures were characterized as the assembled nanosheets of ZnO on which Bi₂O₃ nanoparticles were well dispersed. Further studies revealed that the morphology and photocatalytic property could be regulated by tuning the amount of Bi₂O₃. The introduction of Bi₂O₃ can lead to the enhancement of solar light absorption, and the 5% ZnO/Bi₂O₃ samples exhibited the best photocatalytic activity under the solar light irradiation. The excellent photocatalytic performances could be ascribed to the synergistic effects of the hierarchical nanostructures and the effective separation of photogenerated carriers. Moreover, the hydroxyl radicals (OH) are found to be the main active species generated in the oxidation reaction of RhB over ZnO/Bi₂O₃ photocatalyst. Therefore, our work demonstrated a facile way to prepare hierarchical nanostructures with excellent photocatalytic performance using solid state method at room temperature.