Boosting the visible-light photoactivity of Bi2WO6 using acidic carbon additives

We have explored the role of the physicohemical properties of carbon materials as additives to bismuth tungstate on its structure, optical properties, and photocatalytic activity for the degradation of rhodamine B under visible light. For this purpose, C/Bi2WO6 hybrid composites were prepared follow...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Jiménez Carmona, Rocío, Fernández Velasco, Leticia, Hidalgo López, María del Carmen, Navío Santos, José Antonio, Ovin Ania, María Concepción
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2015
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repository:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/138591
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/138591
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcata.2015.05.011
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:nanoporous carbons
heterogeneous photocatalysis
visible light
bismuth tungstate
Description
Summary:We have explored the role of the physicohemical properties of carbon materials as additives to bismuth tungstate on its structure, optical properties, and photocatalytic activity for the degradation of rhodamine B under visible light. For this purpose, C/Bi2WO6 hybrid composites were prepared following two different routes: i) physical mixture of the catalyst components, and ii) one-pot hydrothermal synthesis of the semiconductor in the presence of the carbon additive. Three carbons with different properties were selected as additives: biomass-derived activated carbon, carbon nanotubes and carbon spheres obtained from polysaccharides. Data has shown the outstanding role of the acidic/basic nature of the carbon additive, and of the synthetic method on the photocatalytic performance of the resulting composites. For a given additive, the degradation rate of RhB is greatly improved for the catalysts prepared through a one-step hydrothermal synthesis, where there is low shielding effect of the carbon matrix. Carbon additives of acidic nature boost the surface acidity of the hybrid photocatalyst, thereby enhancing the photodegradation of RhB under visible light via a coupled mechanism (photosensitization, semiconductor photocatalysis and carbon-photon mediated reactions).