l -Asparagine-assisted synthesis of flower-like β-Bi 2 O 3 and its photocatalytic performance for the degradation of 4-phenylphenol under visible-light irradiation

By introducing l -asparagine as a ligand, a flower-like precursor of Bi 2 O 3 was prepared by a simple reflux process under atmospheric pressure. β-Bi 2 O 3 was then conveniently obtained by decomposing the precursor and stabilized in a temperature range from room temperature to 420 °C due to the surface-coordination effects of CO 3 2− derived from l -asparagine.