Visible-light-driven heterostructure Ag/Bi<inf>2</inf>WO<inf>6</inf> nanocomposites synthesized by photodeposition method and used for photodegradation of rhodamine B dye

Abstract

Visible-light-driven heterostructure Ag/Bi2WO6 nanocomposites were prepared by transforming Ag+ ions into metallic Ag0 nanoparticles loaded on top of Bi2WO6 nanoplates under visible light irradiation for 1 h. XRD, XPS, SEM and TEM analyses indicated that spherical metallic Ag nanoparticles were uniformly dispersed on top of orthorhombic Bi2WO6 thin nanoplates. Rhodamine B (RhB) was used as a dye model for investigation of photocatalytic performance of Bi2WO6 nanoplates with different weight contents of Ag nanoparticles illuminated by visible radiation. In this research, 10% Ag/Bi2WO6 nanocomposites have the highest photocatalytic activity in the degradation of RhB at 94.21% within 210 min because of the rapid diffusion of electronic charge through the Schottky barrier between metallic Ag nanoparticles and Bi2WO6 thin nanoplates, good electrical conductivity of metallic Ag nanoparticles, inhibited recombination of charge carriers and enhanced photocatalytic activity of Ag/Bi2WO6 nanocomposites. Main active species of the photocatalysis and stability of the photocatalyst were also evaluated.