Visible light-induced photocatalytic activity of Bi2O3 prepared via microwave-assisted method.

Bi2O3 was successfully synthesized via microwave-assisted reaction of Bi2O3 precursor in aqueous solution using a microwave system. Their morphologies, structures and photocatalytic performances in the degradation of methylene blue (MB) were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy and UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, respectively. The results show that Bi2O3 synthesized at pH value of 7 exhibits an optimal photocatalytic performance with the MB degradation rate of 76% at 240 min under visible light irradiation due to its higher visible light absorption and comparatively low electron-hole pair recombination.