α-Bi2O3 nanorods: An efficient sunlight active photocatalyst for degradation of Rhodamine B and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol

This paper reports the synthesis and characterization of an efficient sunlight active photocatalyst, i.e. α-Bi2O3 nanorods for the photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol. The α-Bi2O3 nanorods were synthesized by a simple surfactant free sono-chemical route at ambient conditions and characterized in detail in terms of their morphological, structural, compositional and optical properties. The detailed characterizations revealed that the prepared nanorods exhibited high purity, well-crystalline monoclinic α-Bi2O3 structure and excellent optical properties. The catalytic behaviour of α-Bi2O3 was investigated for the degradation of a cationic dye (Rhodamine B), its simulated dye bath effluent and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol under solar light irradiation. The as-synthesized α-Bi2O3 nanorods catalyst exhibited excellent solar-light driven photocatalysis towards Rhodamine B (97% dye degradation in 45 min) and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (88% dye degradation in 180 min). The presented results demonstrate that α-Bi2O3 nanorods are excellent solar-light driven photocatalyst for the photocatalyst degradation of organic dyes and pollutants.