Aqueous synthesis of hierarchical bismuth nanobundles with high catalytic activity to organic dyes

Bundle-like bismuth (Bi) nanoarchitectures were successfully prepared on a large scale by an aqueous reducing strategy with polyethylene glycol (PEG) as directing agent at 90 degrees C for 55 min. The bundle-like Bi nanoarchitectures have a length of 4-5 pun and diameter of 0.5-1 mu m with fairly uniform construction. Catalytic activities of the as-prepared hierarchical Bi nanobundles were investigated for degrading Rhodamine B (RhB) dye solution under visible-light irradiation. The Bi nanostructures extended excellent catalytic activity and good cycling performance toward photodegradation of RhB. Possible mechanism was proposed for Bi-assisted photocatalytic degradation of RhB under visible-light. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.