Wahyu Prasetyo Utomo, Nor Farida, Binta Aisyah, Ahmad Azzam Babgei, Nur Karimah, Ade Irma Rozafia, Imam Susilo, Tri Widjaja, Hadi Nur, Retno Sari, Rui Liu, Djoko Hartanto
The morphology of the photocatalyst plays an important role in determining its photocatalytic activity. Bismuth oxybromide (BiOBr) offers the advantages of a unique layered structure, easy preparation, and narrow band gaps. However, a fine morphology of flower-like BiOBr is generally prepared using a relatively complex method, requiring high energy consumption. In this work, we report a facile method to prepare fine flower-like BiOBr, employing a coprecipitation method at room temperature with the addition of polyvinyl pyrrolidone as a capping agent. Further treatment by adding ZSM-5 during the synthesis process leads to the growth of flower-like BiOBr on the surface of ZSM-5, forming a BiOBr/ZSM-5 composite. Photocatalytic test over flower-like BiOBr and flower-like BiOBr/ZSM-5 showed an appreciable performance, reaching the degradation efficiency of methylene blue up to 50.96 % and 87.29 %, respectively upon 120 min of UV illumination, which is higher than the bare irregular BiOBr (31.82 %). The enhanced photodegradation performance can be attributed to the more efficient charge transfer and enlarged surface area, induced by the thin flower-like morphology of BiOBr and the presence of ZSM-5. This work provides insight into facile synthesis and surface modification of BiOBr to enhance its catalytic activity. © 2025
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Data Analytics, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), Sukolilo, East Java, Surabaya, 60111, Indonesia; Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, East Java, Surabaya, 60132, Indonesia; Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Technology and Systems Engineering, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), Sukolilo, East Java, Surabaya, 60111, Indonesia; Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang, Indonesia; Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Airlangga University, Surabaya, Indonesia; School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, 999077, Hong Kong
