Plasmonic Bi Metal Deposition and g-C₃N₄ Coating on Bi₂WO₆ Microspheres for Efficient Visible-Light Photocatalysis

Abstract

A low-cost semiconductor-based photocatalyst using visible light energy has attracted increasing interest for energy generation and environmental remediation. Herein, plasmonic Bi metal was deposited in situ in g-C3N4@Bi2WO6 microspheres via a hydrothermal method. As an electron-conduction bridge, metallic Bi was inserted as the interlayer between g-C3N4 and the surface of Bi2WO6 microspheres to enhance visible light absorption due to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect and facilitate efficient electron-carrier separation. Different characterization techniques, including XRD, SEM, TEM, UV–vis, XPS, photoluminescence, and photocurrent generation, were employed to investigate the morphology and optical properties of the as-prepared samples. The results indicated that the g-C3N4(20%)@Bi@Bi2WO6 microsphere sample exhibited an extraordinary enhanced photocatalytic activity, higher than those of the g-C3N4, Bi2WO6, and g-C3N4(20%)@Bi2WO6 samples. It implies that the heterostructured combination of g-C3N4, metallic Bi, and Bi2WO6 microspheres provided synergistic photocatalytic activity via an efficient electron transfer process. On the basis of the results, a possible photocatalytic mechanism of the as-prepared samples was proposed. The present study demonstrated the feasibility of utilizing low-cost metallic Bi as a substitute for noble metals to design a doped photocatalysis composite with enhanced photocatalytic performance.

Facile Synthesis of Bi2MoO6 Microspheres Decorated by CdS Nanoparticles with Efficient Photocatalytic Removal of Levfloxacin Antibiotic

“…(a,b) SEM images, (c) EDX spectrum, and (d) TEM image of 1.0CdS/Bi 2 MoO 6.The UV-Vis absorption spectra of Bi 2 MoO 6 , CdS, and 1.0CdS/Bi 2 MoO 6 are illustrated inFigure 3. Pure Bi 2 MoO 6 and CdS exhibit good absorption in the visible light region, consistent with the previous reports[18,37,40]. Notably, 1.0CdS/Bi 2 MoO 6 presents better optical absorption than Bi 2 MoO 6 , indicating that 1.0CdS/Bi 2 MoO 6 possesses a better ability to harvest sunlight.…”

“…In recent years, the semiconductor-based photocatalysis as a green oxidation technology, has made significant developments for treating water pollutions [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Bismuth (III)-based semiconductors (e.g., BiOX (X = Cl, Br, I) [11][12][13], Bi 2 MoO 6 [14][15][16][17], and Bi 2 WO 6 [18]) have been emerging as kinds of high-efficiency photocatalysts. Among them, Bi 2 MoO 6 as a good visible-light-driven (VLD) photocatalyst, has been one of the focal research points in the area of photocatalysis.…”

Synthesis of Bi2WO6/Na-bentonite composites for photocatalytic oxidation of arsenic(iii) under simulated sunlight

“…For pure BWO, the photocurrent intensity decreases with irradiation time, this experimental phenomenon is similar to previous research. 48,49 The reason may be due to the fact that photo-generated electrons in the inner layer of Bi 2 WO 6 need to overcome a long migration distance to reach the surface, and electrons can accumulate and recombine with holes during the irradiation time. 50 However, the photocurrent of BWO/BENT-30% kept constant with time and was higher than those of pure BWO and BWO/BENT-50%.…”

Photocatalytic Performance Analysis of Bi2WO6 Modified with CdSe Quantum Dots in Different Solvents

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6] Because of its unique structure, [7][8] Bi 2 WO 6 has been studied by many researchers on photocatalytic degradation. [9][10][11][12][13] In order to further improve the photocatalytic ability, many methods have been used from different aspects. The effects of different Bi 2 WO 6 morphologies on toluene degradation efficiency were investigated by Zhu et al, which showed that sheet-Bi 2 WO 6 catalyst had the best photocatalytic performance.…”