Facile Synthesis of Amorphous Bi-Doped TiO₂ and Its Visible Light Photocatalytical Properties

In this study, amorphous Bi-doped TiO₂ (Bi–TiO₂ and pure TiO₂ nanoparticles were successfully prepared via a facile chemical precipitation method. The structures and morphologies of as-synthesized samples were characterized in details by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Selected area electron diffraction patterns (SAED), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS), Brunauer Emmet Teller (BET) measurement, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-vis DRS) and Photoluminescence (PL) spectra. The photocatalytic activity of samples was evaluated by the photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB), phenol and bisphenol A (BPA) under visible light irradiation. The visible light photocatalytic activity of samples is as follows, Bi–TiO₂ > TiO₂ > P₂₅. Moreover, the repetitive tests imply the good stability of the Bi–TiO₂ catalyst. In addition, on the basis of the experimental results, a possible mechanism for the photocatalytic degradation of RhB mediated by Bi–TiO₂ under visible light was proposed.