Surfactant-assisted hydrothermal preparation of submicrometer-sized two-dimensional BiFeO3 plates and their photocatalytic activity

2-Dimensional bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) plates were hydrothermally synthesized starting from Bi(NO3)3 and Fe(NO3)3 in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a morphology directing template. The amount of CTAB was altered to study their effects on the final results. The average diameter and thickness of BiFeO3 plates were about 1.3–2 μm and 200–300 nm. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV–visible diffuse reflection spectrum (UV–vis DRS) were used to investigate the samples’ crystallinity, purity, morphology, spectral features. Furthermore, the effect of the morphology on photocatalysis was also evaluated by photodecolorization of orange II under a blended-light mercury fluorescent lamp (λ ≥ 410 nm). As a result, BiFeO3 plates showed a much higher photocatalytic activity than bulk BiFeO3 for photodecolorization of orange II, suggesting potential application in photocatalysis.