Search

Bismuth (Bi) is a particular element with many distinctive properties such as low toxicity or nontoxicity, high specific gravity, photoluminescence, photoelectronic and photovoltaic effects, strong oxidation ability, water insolubility, etc. These distinctive properties help to boost various applications of Bi. The recent decades have witnessed a dramatic increase in the application research of Bi‐based materials, especially on photocatalysis. This paper begins with an introduction to the history of Bi, followed by a summary of its distinctive properties, and then provides a comprehensive overview of its applications in photocatalysis, sensing, medicine, and diagnosis and treatments, with a particular focus on near‐infrared photocatalysis, flexible wearable sensor, in vivo detection and therapeutics. Finally, the main challenges and development prospects of the Bi‐based materials are introduced. With the development trends of Bi research discussed, this paper is aimed at improving the knowledge of Bi and arising the research interest of Bi in the hope of extending the applications of Bi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BiOCl has been identified to be a promising semiconductor material with exceptional performance for photodegradation of organic pollutants. In this work, a feasible strategy to synthesize octagon‐like BiOCl nanoflakes (G‐BiOCl NFs) with novel morphology was developed by one‐step solvothermal reaction in ethylene glycol/water solution with the addition of glutamate acid. The obtained G‐BiOCl NFs with large surface areas and negatively charged surfaces possessed excellent photocatalytic activity for the degradation of organic pollutant Rhodamine B (RhB). RhB was almost completely degraded in only 4 mins under ultraviolet−visible light irradiation. It was confirmed that the holes and.O2− played crucial roles in the RhB photocatalytic degradation process. This work provided a new strategy for the preparation of efficient photocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]