Degradation of methyl orange using bismuth oxide

Bismuth oxide is prepared by a simple chemical route and it crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system. The measured optical band gap value of 2.694(1) eV supported that the prepared bismuth oxide can be used as a visible light photocatalyst. The degradation property of bismuth oxide is studied using methyl orange as a model pollutant and a degradation of 85% is achieved in 4 h. The kinetics of bismuth oxide is fitted using pseudo first and second order equations.