Facile preparation of novel Fe2O3/BiOI hybrid nanostructures for efficient visible light photocatalysis

A novel magnetic Fe 2 O 3 /BiOI hybrid nanostructure was fabricated by combining electrospinning and successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. Hollow Fe 2 O 3 nanofibers with internal diameter around 50 nm were produced by using electrospinning and calcinations of the as-spun fibers at 450 °C for 2 h. BiOI was deposited on the Fe 2 O 3 nanofiber surface by SILAR method, and the BiOI quantity could be controlled by the growth cycles of SILAR. Similar synthetic procedure could also be used to prepare Fe 2 O 3 /BiOBr and Fe 2 O 3 /BiOCl hybrid nanostructures. The BiOI on the magnetic nanofiber surface is highly crystalline with lamellae morphology of around 16 nm in thickness from the X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy detections. The obtained Fe 2 O 3 /BiOI hybrid nanostructures exhibit superior visible light catalytic performance toward decomposition of RhB. This new method, which can also be used to prepare other magnetic photocatalyst simply at low cost, is suitable for practical applications.