Synthesis and characterization of novel coral spherical bismuth oxide
De‐Qing Chu, Yundalai Wu, Limin Wang
Abstract
Bismuth oxide, a widely studied semiconductor material, has been discovered in a variety of forms. Novel coral spherical α-Bi2O3 with a diameter of 2-4 μm was successfully prepared by a simple template-free and surfactant-free hydrothermal method. The structure and morphology of the samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission electron scanning microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The experimental results revealed that the reaction time and the urea concentration could regulate the morphology of Bi2O3, and a possible formation mechanism was proposed based on the results. This study provides a new idea for the morphological synthesis of bismuth oxide.