Photocatalytic Efficiency of Bi-Based Aurivillius Compounds: Critical Review and Discernment of the Factors Involved

The rapid development of industries to gain technical advancement is packed with environmental-related issues. This is a primary and major concern all over the world. Photocatalysis has proven to be a potential approach to address the issues of environmental problems. Semiconductor material-based photocatalysis is the forefront and viable method to achieve the same. Among metal oxide/selenide/sulfide/phosphide/halide/oxyhalide materials, Bi-based Aurivillius compounds have been widely studied in recent years, because of their excellent physical and chemical properties. These compounds are found to be narrow bandgap materials, which are nontoxic, noncorrosive, and relatively low cost. The ability of Aurivillius compounds to form 2D morphologies is a major advantage in the development of high surface area nano-photocatalysts, which in turn increases catalyst efficiency by providing more active sites for effluent degradation. The bandgap can be tuned either by employing strategies like the formation of nanocomposites with RGO or by the creation of heterostructures with Bi-based Aurivillius compounds. This approach has attracted researchers for visible light-driven photocatalytic applications.