Bismuth sulfide nanoflowers as high performance near-infrared laser detectors and visible-light-driven photocatalysts

Abstract

Flower-like bismuth sulfide nanostructures were synthesized and applied for both rigid and flexible near-infrared laser detectors. The rigid laser detector exhibits excellent photoresponse characteristics to an 808 nm laser beam, and its response time and decay time were found to be relatively fast as 2 s and 2.5 s, respectively. The flexible laser detector not only has high flexible, light-weight and adequate bendability, but also revealed good sensitivity to an 808 nm laser beam. The photocatalytic properties of bismuth sulfide nanoflowers were evaluated by the decomposition of RhB in aqueous solution under visible light irradiation. The results demonstrated that the photodegradation ratio of RhB was up to nearly 96% after 3 h visible light irradiation, indicating the bismuth sulfide samples were good candidates for visible light photocatalysts.