Facile Synthesis Bi(2)Te(3) Based Nanocomposites: Strategies for Enhancing Charge Carrier Separation to Improve Photocatalytic Activity

Varying structure Bi(2)Te(3)-based nanocomposite powders including pure Bi(2)Te(3), Bi(2)Te(3)/Bi core−shell, and Bi(2)Te(3)/AgBiTe(2) heterostructure were synthesized by hydrothermal synthesis using Bi(2)S(3) as the template and hydrazine as the reductant. Successful realization of Bi(2)Te(3)-based nanostructures were concluded from XRD, FESEM, and TEM. In this work, the improvement in the performance of the rhodamine B (RhB) decomposition efficiency under visible light was discussed. The Bi(2)Te(3)/AgBiTe(2) heterostructures revealed propitious photocatalytic performance ca. 90% after 60 min. The performance was over Bi(2)Te(3)/Bi core-shell nanostructures (ca. 40%) and more, exceeding pure Bi(2)Te(3) (ca. 5%). The reason could be scrutinized in terms of the heterojunction structure, improving the interfacial contact between Bi(2)Te(3) and AgBiTe(2) and enabling retardation in the recombination rate of the photogenerated charge carriers. A credible mechanism of the charge transfer process in the Bi(2)Te(3)/AgBiTe(2) heterostructures for the decomposition of an aqueous solution of RhB was also explicated. In addition, this work also investigated the stability and recyclability of a Bi(2)Te(3)/AgBiTe(2) heterojunction nanostructure photocatalyst. In addition, this paper anticipates that the results possess broad potential in the photocatalysis field for the design of a visible light functional and reusable heterojunction nanostructure photocatalyst.