Synthesis of highly symmetrical BiOI single-crystal nanosheets and their {001} facet-dependent photoactivity

Highly symmetrical BiOI single-crystal nanosheets (BiOI SCNs) with dominant exposed {001} facets (up to 95%) have been synthesized by annealing BiI3 and characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, selected area electron diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, fast-Fourier transform pattern, UV-vis diffuse reflectance and photoluminescence. The thickness and the {001} facets percentage of BiOI SCNs can be tuned by changing the annealing temperature. The thermal decomposition process of BiI3 and the formation mechanism of BiOI SCNs were investigated. BiOI SCNs exhibit higher photoactivity (about 7 times) than irregular BiOI for degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) dye under visible light irradiation. The {001} facets are the reactive facets of BiOI. The origin of {001} facets-dependent photoactivity is due to an improvement of the separation efficiency of photo-induced electrons and holes.