Advances and Challenges in BiOX (X: Cl, Br, I)-Based Materials for Harvesting Sunlight

Abstract

te new ways of collecting sunlight for environmental applications and the removal of contaminants. Photocatalysts are being incorporated in green chem- istry and used to improve chemical processes. The use of photocatalytic processes with semiconductor photocatalysts has the advantage of allowing recovery and reuse of the photocatalyst for further applica- tions. The most well-known photocatalyst material is titanium dioxide (TiO2); however, in the past 10 years, bismuth oxyhalides have been widely studied. Among the advantages of bismuth oxyhalides is a wide range of band gap energies, reaching values in the visible spectrum. This is a great improvement as the solar spectrum has 50% of its radiation in the visible range, allowing more efficient collection of sunlight. Moreover, within the bismuth photocatalysts synthesized to date, oxyhalides have lower costs and use fewer polluting reagents; hence, they fit well into the “green photocatalysts” group. In this chapter, the main characteristics of the synthesis routes and doping strategies of BiOX-based materials will be reviewed in detail. In addition, the main uses of BiOX in energy, environmental remediation, and green chemistry fields will be discussed.