from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
Bismuth iodate was prepared using a hydrothermal synthesis of Bi(NO3)3·5H2O and I2O5. The time effect of the hydrothermal synthesis (4, 24, 48 and 72 h) on the structure, specific surface area (SSA) and morphology of bismuth iodate particles, their optical properties and photodegradation activity were studied. A major phase presented in the prepared samples was BiIO4 of which crystallite size increased with the duration of the synthesis as revealed with X-ray powder diffraction method. The values of specific surface area decreased with increasing time of the thermal treatment. The particles size and their morphology changed from very fine particles stacked into fluffy agglomerates observed after 4 h to agglomerates of tabular particles observed after 72 h long synthesis. The photocatalytic performance of the prepared samples irradiated with UVA light was evaluated by the photodegradation of model organic dye acid orange 7. It was observed that with the increasing duration of the BiIO4 synthesis the photodegradation activity of resulting samples decreased. The photodegradation activity of BiIO4 prepared at 4 and 24 h was higher than that of TiO2 P25 (Degussa).
Keywords: bismuth iodate, hydrothermal synthesis, characterization, photocatalysis.© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.