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Facile synthesis of carbon-Bi2WO6 with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activities

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Abstract

Bi2WO6 doped with different amounts of carbon were synthesized using hydrothermal method, and their photocatalytic activities for methylene blue degradation under visible-light irradiation were investigated. The prepared samples were characterized by SEM, EDX, DRS, PL, Raman, and EPR measurements. The results suggest that carbon doping has great influences on the visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity of Bi2WO6 as well as its microstructure. The 1.5C-Bi2WO6 hybrid material shows the highest activity, resulting in a 98 % degradation ratio of MB within 3 h under visible-light irradiation. It is further confirmed by photocurrent generation and electrochemical impedance spectral measurements. The present research provides a simple and valid method for improving the visible-light-responding photocatalytic activity and fabricating different morphologies of Bi2WO6.

Graphical Abstract

Combined Bi2WO6 with carbon could change the flower structure and size of the Bi2WO6 catalyst. The resulting 1.5C-Bi2WO6 flake has strong absorption in the visible-light region and have obviously enhanced photocatalytic activities for the degradation of MB. The photocurrent catalytic activity of the Bi2WO6 flake was almost 15 times higher than that of Bi2WO6.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the “Western Light” Program (No. YBXM 201401) of Chinese Academy of Sciences, International Science & Technology Cooperation Program of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (No. 20146005), the “Youth Technology Innovation Talents Culture Engineering” of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China (No. 2013721045), and the “Cross-Cooperation Program for Creative Research Teams.”

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Correspondence to Xiaoyun Fan or Chuanyi Wang.

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Fan, X., Yue, X., Luo, J. et al. Facile synthesis of carbon-Bi2WO6 with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activities. J Nanopart Res 18, 65 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-016-3368-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-016-3368-3

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